Today is Valentine’s Day 2026, and my lover and I are on day 2 of our latest adventure: gorilla trekking in Uganda. After three flights to get here, we are loving having a down day, hanging at the resort, recharging, regrouping, and waiting for the rest of our group members to arrive. I packed light- one soft-sided duffle weighing in at thirty-five pounds, one backpack for laptop and camera gear, and one handbag with a cross-body and a shoulder strap. It felt good to carry all my own stuff. I’ve known for a long time that while my man is a superman, the other ‘superman’ is not coming, and I need to be able to haul my own stuff and open the door while doing so.
Anyway, while I did bring him a Valentine’s Day card, we are not celebrating in any big way. There is a group welcome dinner this evening, and that will be lovely.
This time last year, I created a little magic for my family by making dinner. There are several calendar holidays that I find really challenging to celebrate out at restaurants, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day come to mind. Actually, I think all holidays are challenging to celebrate out- I like to be at home.
So home it was. Coq au vin and old-fashioned chocolate mayonnaise cake were on the menu. I bought chocolate hearts at the local candy store and had them ‘monogrammed’. Used carnations instead of roses. Warm and cozy. No hard-to-get reservations needed. No feeling like we needed to hurry along so the restaurant table could be turned. Sure, it was probably a full-tilt effort, can’t really remember the work of it all now. We were together, and that was the magic.
Every day dress, create a little magic.
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