Love in the everyday

Every 14 February, the world transforms into a sea of red roses, oversized teddy bears, and fully booked restaurants, not to mention traffic. Valentine’s Day becomes a spectacle — a day when love is declared loudly, publicly, and often expensively. Yet for many of us, the real beauty of love lies not in the grand gestures of a single day, but in the quiet constancy of every day that surrounds it.

I remember when Valentine’s Day meant scrambling for a reservation, dressing up, and braving hours of traffic to reach a fancy restaurant. Back then, this was the norm — and in our youthful eagerness, we thought it was the definition of romance. But all it took was one exhausting 14 February, trapped in gridlock and paying for a meal that cost more than a week’s student allowance, for us to realize that maybe love didn’t need all of that.

So we stopped chasing the idea of picture-perfect Valentine’s dates. We stopped measuring love by the price of the dinner or the extravagance of the plan. And in doing so, we discovered something deeper.

Love, we learned, is not a day. It is a practice.

It’s in the meals shared with family every day. It’s in the simple “i love you” and “ingat” messages exchanged every day. It’s in the way you hold hands while walking. It’s in the small decisions — choosing patience over frustration, understanding over pride, kindness even on days when it’s difficult.

We realized that the most meaningful celebrations were the ones without fanfare: meals cooked at home, conversations during meals, and the peace of simply sitting side by side. Everyday love is gentle, persistent, and honest. It shows up even when there are no flowers, no chocolates, no reservations — just two people choosing each other again and again.

And perhaps that is the love that sustains us. Because while Valentine’s Day reminds us to pause and appreciate one another, it is the ordinary moments in between that truly define a relationship. Anyone can be romantic once a year but the real test is showing love in the mundane, the routine, the unglamorous.

Today, I smile when I think of those fancy dinners we no longer chase. What we have now is far richer: a relationship built on shared memories, shared struggles, shared growth — and a love that is lived, not scheduled.

So let Valentine’s Day come and go. Let the world celebrate with roses and reservations. As for us, we’ll keep choosing the everyday kind of love — the kind that doesn’t need an occasion, because it thrives in every ordinary day we share.