Nigeria, Feb. 14 -- Valentine's Day arrives with its usual flair, roses flooding storefronts, restaurants packed to capacity, and a lingering sense of pressure in the air. Love, it seems, demands both effort and expense.

Somewhere right now, someone is making a last-minute dinner reservation, another is debating whether flowers or perfume will suffice, and a few are plotting their great escape from obligations they would rather not fulfill.

But for me, February 14th is not just about love. It is the day I was born.

Most people receive roses on Valentine's Day. I received life. While the world scrambles for candlelit dinners and grand gestures, I wake up to the ultimate love story, another year, another breath, another reason to be grat...