Love, Actually

It's Valentine's Day, and I'm sitting in NY while my Valentine and our kids are all the way across the country in CA.  I'm missing them, and I'll only be away 48 hours.  But I'm doing work that I care about, and that might even matter a bit in the larger scheme of things.  It's a painful tradeoff.

So this news item about Barack and Michelle Obama especially caught my eye:

He's taking Valentine's Day off:

A sign of confidence? A little thank-you to his wife for tolerating his presidential ambitions?

In the thick of his primary battle with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama is taking Valentine's Day off. Obama and his wife of more than 15 years, Michelle, are spending the afternoon with their two daughters, Sasha and Malia, before going out to dinner in Chicago, according to his campaign. No events, no interviews, no nothing -- just a little family time and a little romance. No word yet on gifts, or whether he's still got that BlackBerry on his hip.

He misses his family.  He needs to take one night to put them first, in the middle of the political fight of his life.  I'm liking his priorities.  

Update -

mijita wrote a great diary on this too, and her Mom.