What's Valentine's Day Have to Do With LOVE

WHEN FEBRUARY FIRST ROLLS AROUND, I ALWAYS THINK OF VALENTINE'S DAY. AFTER ALL, HERE IN THE MID-WEST IN MID-WINTER, IT IS A BRIGHT SPOT IN THE OTHERWISE COLD, WINTRY AND UNINTERESTING MONTH. FOR WHO DOESN'T LIKE TO THINK OF LOVE IN ALL ITS VARIOUS FORMS, AND MANIFESTATIONS! WHEN I WAS IN GRADE SCHOOL, VALENTINE'S DAY WAS A DAY TO LOOK FORWARD TO WITHIN THE CONFINES OF A STRICT CATHOLIC SCHOOL WHERE NOT MUCH CHANGED IN THE REGULAR ROUTINE, AND THERE DID NOT SEEM TO BE MUCH REASON FOR JOY. BUT, ON VALENTINE'S DAY, WE WERE ALL ENCOURAGED TO DECORATE A SHOE BOX WITH VALENTINE'S DAY PARAPHERNALIA OF WHITE LACE DOILIES, RED TISSUE PAPER AND VARIOUS SIZES OF RED HEARTS. A CUT IN THE TOP OF THE BOX WAS FOR SLIPPING IN YOUR RECEIVED VALENTINES FROM EACH MEMBER OF THE CLASS, GIRLS AND BOYS. I REMEMBER GOING HOME AND WONDERING WHETHER THE VALENTINE FROM THE BOY I HAD A CRUSH ON AT THE TIME, HAD ANY SIGNIFICANCE AT ALL...BIGGER, NICER, PRETTIER THAN THE OTHERS....USUALLY NOT. ONE YEAR, MY BROTHER HAD BEEN SO STRUCK BY CUPID'S INFLUENCE THAT HE SHOT AN ARROW INTO THE FRONT YARD OF HIS GIRL-FRIEND'S HOUSE TO THE HORROR AND CONSTERNATION OF HER PARENTS. I THINK THAT THEY CALLED THE POLICE!
AS I GOT OLDER, VALENTINE'S DAY SEEMED LESS OF A DAY TO CELEBRATE THAN A DAY TO LAMENT THAT I DID NOT HAVE A BOYFRIEND OR "SIGNIFICANT OTHER" SENDING ME A CARD, CANDY OR FLOWERS. I BECAME A MEMBER OF THAT VAST GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO WERE "SINGLE" ON VALENTINE'S DAY AND WISHED THAT THE DAY WOULD BE OVER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. TO THIS DAY, I HAVE A DEEP FEELING FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT HAVE A SPECIAL "SOMEONE" TO SHARE THE DAY WITH. IT IS A VERY LONELY DAY FOR MANY.
TODAY, THANKS TO HALLMARK, FLOWER SHOPS AND CANDY MAKERS, VALENTINE'S DAY HAS A WIDER, MORE INCLUSIVE RANGE TO INCLUDE ANY AND ALL PEOPLE WE LOVE....MOMS, DADS, KIDS, GRANDS, FRIENDS AS WELL AS "SIGNIFICANT OTHERS" WHICH I THINK IS A VERY GOOD IDEA! AFTER ALL, LOVE IS LOVE WHICH TAKES MANY FORMS AND IS FELT BY EVERYONE TOWARDS THE SPECIAL PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES. SO, HURRAH FOR VALENTINE'S DAY, A DAY TO RECOGNIZE ALL THE PEOPLE WE LOVE IN THIS WORLD. AND JUST A THOUGHT, YOU NEVER HAVE TO WAIT FOR VALENTINE'S DAY TO LET THE PEOPLE YOU LOVE KNOW IT!

Valentine's Day

This is what my house looked like on Valentine's Day this year. I was surrounded by those I love the most; my wonderful husband (this rose being one of a dozen he gave me), my two fabulous daughters, my awesome son-in-law and Michelle's significant other, Scott DeWeese, and my two fun, and funny grandchildren. Life is good this year, and what could be better than being surrounded by those you love on Valentine's Day? It was not always the case in my growing up years, and I remember many a lonely Valentine's Day when I did not think that anyone loved me. I can think all the way back to grade school when the magnetic pull between boy and girl begins, and I was in love with so many of the cute boys in my class. Back then, we decorated shoe boxes with red crape paper, ribbons, white doilies and anything else that would suggest love. Usually the rule was that everyone in the class got a valentine from everyone else; no one was to be left out, and I was just foolish enough to actually think that if I happened to get one of those three cent valentines that said "Will you be mine?" it really meant something from that cute boy across the isle. In fact, his mom probably wrote out his valentines for him, and he was clueless as to who got which one. In many ways, Valentine's Day is much like New Year's Eve; it is hard to be without a "love" for either of these occasions, but I had plenty of these. I remember many times being in tears. I guess that this is one reason that today I am so grateful when I look around and see how lovingly rich my life is. And to all the singles out there, I want to say, keep the fires burning and the hope alive. True love will come along when you least expect it. It did for me!