Tis the day of love…a time to embrace all that is
sentimental and wonderful. Somehow this
day has turned into the days of the have and have-nots. Which I have never
understood. I can see how it would
happen, understand it in fact. My
household was not like many this day where gifts were exchanged between all and
it was a celebration of love. Valentine’s
Day was for my mother, from her husband.
There would be no note, chocolates, or flowers for me the daughter. When my beaver-cleaver friends (you know,
the sort that came from stable homes, had game nights, and family was what you
turned to, not ran from) would tell me about their valentine’s it all sounded
so lovely that I remember that sentiment much more than my own household
memories. It seemed the message that
sticks about this day is that it is a day for love, not a day for lovers. And so most years I embrace it and use it to
tell those special to me how loved they are.
My personal view is that Valentine’s Day is to love what Thanksgiving is
to food and family. I’m thankful for all
of those things everyday….it’s just that on the holiday you verbalize your
thanks.
This year however I thought I would find myself a bit
saddened by this day….There is not one family member within this country. I am single. Key friendships have been
decimated through my own and other’s actions. I don’t even have an ICE (in case
of emergency) contact. My life is very
small right now…a handful of amazing friendships, all happily coupled, thrown
across the USA and that is it. I should
be completely down in the dumps. I should be crying into a pile of cookie
crumbs and an empty frosting container. And
yet, from some unknown place, there is this positivity and optimism surging
through me.
I’m loving this day.
I’m loving the flowers and cards, the little kids with boxes of candy
hearts and colorful envelopes, PDAs all up in this place! Sign me up for all of it. It’s clearly a sign that this shedding I’m
doing (house, possessions, jobs, etc.) is moving me in the right direction. My happiness is pervasive. My hope growing. By no longer trudging through my life with
the path stretched endlessly before me I am finding happiness in the
possibility of “what if”… Life is now a meandering
path running through streams, across the sands, up the sheer face of a mountain
cliff, through English gardens, and skimming over crisp snow. What if I went
over there? Who will I meet, what will happen?
And so today, despite the smallness of my current life, my “what if”
says to you, “happppppy Valentine’s day!” Tell those you care about how much
they mean to you because they deserve it.
They deserve it every day, but today open that mouth, take in breath and
let those vocal chords vibrate with the resounding sound of love in all its
forms.
Cheers –J
:) Good.
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