For Valentine's Day this year, we held a little contest here at Superhero Designs. We asked readers to send in short stories of times in their lives when they felt truly loved. These were our favorites. Hope you enjoy them!

Blessed
This is not a traditional love story. It's a story about grace. In February of 2002, I was in the midst of a journey I call my dark night of the soul. I had been dealing with almost crippling anxiety in the wake of the September 11th attacks. I'm so far on the other side of it now that it's hard to recall, but what I remember most vividly is how dark, painful and frightening everything felt to me. Every single thing. Even the most seemingly innocuous thing could set off waves of adrenaline. I couldn't watch TV, listen to music, or even read books. (The only exception being Anne Lammott's Operating Instructions, which I reread about 10 times). I cried everyday. I felt alone in the universe, even though I had a great boyfriend, friends and family.

On Valentine's Day of 2002, I was really on the edge and I felt like if I didn't do something different, I would end up killing myself. I'd heard of a yoga retreat up in the mountains near here and so I packed a bag and drove right up there, abandoning my boyfriend on Valentine's Day - something that
required an enormous amount of courage. We're talking superhero courage. I was the only guest there that night. I had one-on-one yoga classes, meditation classes and the loving support of the entire staff at the retreat. I took on their routine and woke up at 5 am to chant with them in the temple before breakfast. In the afternoons, I would walk alone in the mountains. It was so beautiful it almost hurt, the snow-covered mountains, the smell of the pines, the stillness, the feel of the air. I was able to see glimmers of grace and of God on those walks. I finally felt a connection to something larger than my own fear.

It was a series of loving choices that got me through that time in my life, an almost 2 year journey, and now I can look back on it and be grateful for the experience. I never thought I would be able to say that. But part of what I learned was how to be compassionate with myself, how to begin to love myself and a profound gratitude for my experience of life. That is the best gift I ever got. I take it with me everywhere I go. My life is so big and so full and so gorgeous now. I am so blessed.

by Katia Tidic
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Beloved

I fell in love with my roommate. There were five of us in the whole flat, and he occupied the room next to mine. We inched towards each other during the course of several weeks, neither of us finding the courage to take that decisive step towards the other. Then one night, I came home to find the floor of my room covered with hundreds of little notes, each of them saying "my beloved". It looked as if it had snowed onto the wooden floorboards. I picked them up one by one, and then went over to his room. He was still awake.

by Katrin Lambrette
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Soulmate

It's hard to pin down one time that I felt totally loved by my husband because he is so wonderful and I know, loves me very much. But...

The first thing that comes to mind is when I went through a double mastectomy (at age 46) three years ago. Before the biopsy on my left breast (in fact, the night before) and it really hit me what may happen. I had kept myself together pretty well up to that point. I left the house to run into town (about 6 miles from our house) to take a rented movie back to the store. On the way home, i was hit with this horrible foreboding and had to pull over to the shoulder of the road and openly BAWL. I couldn't stop crying. Finally, when I got it together and drove home, my husband was concerned that I had been gone so long. I shared my fears with him, that if in fact I did have cancer, that he would no longer find me sexy or desireable. He stopped me in mid sentence, held me by the shoulders and looked me dead in the eye and said "Honey, you are more than "breasts" to me. You are beautiful and sexy on the inside as well as the outside. I love YOU, not your breasts."

Now, fast forward three weeks later. My diagnosis was invasive cancer in my left breast but my right breast was clear. After visiting with my surgeon and a plastic surgeon, we (and I mean WE because he was with me at every appointment) made the decision to have both breasts removed, do 6 months of chemo and then have full reconstruction after the chemo. Neither one of us wanted to go through this again somewhere down the line. Anyway, I had the surgery and stayed one night in the hospital. David slept on a cot next to my bed that night and took care of me throughout the night. The next day the nurses told him everything he would need to do to change my bandages and take care of the drains (had to wear those things for nearly 2 weeks!). That evening, at home, it was time....THE time for both of us to look at my chest. We went into the bathroom and he had me sit on the vanity while he removed my bandages. This man, this wonderful man that I love with all of my heart, DID NOT FLINCH. Think about that for a minute. I was focused on his eyes when he first looked at me and he never showed a sign of shock, fear...nothing like that. Now, I wasn't so cool. When I looked in the mirror, I nearly fainted. That's when he lifted me up and helped me to the bed. I laid back, cyring my eyes out and he said "I guess we better do this with you lying down from now on."

At that moment I knew how much I was loved. David continued to be at my side through the entire awful process. After my first chemo, my hair started falling out so we had a "head shaving party"! On days when I felt so ugly, bald and no boobs, he reminded me how blessed i was to be cancer free and alive. When I looked in the mirror at my body and cried he would remind me "This is a work in progress. You are not going to look like this forever."

Well, it's three years later, I am cancer-free and my reconstruction was a complete success! I know that I would not be where I am now if not for my strong faith in God and my wonderful soulmate named David Murray.

by Melody Murray
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::Click here to read more amazing love stories that we couldn't resist sharing with you::