Happy Monday, everyone!

Valentine’s week is upon us and I hope you are ready to shake off those midwinter blues and spread some love!

I was a little sad to hear a report read over the radio this week that stated that only 51 % of the US population continues to observe Valentine’s day. Now, I have heard the moans of the disenchanted for many decades now. ” It is just another way for marketers to make money!” ” You don’t need a separate day to celebrate love. We should do that every day!” … The protest doesn’t come so much from a diverse population who are of different cultural traditions, but rather, from those who grew up handing out Valentine’s at school and received chocolate candy from their own parents every year.

I understand why so many of us are “over” Valentine’s day. Anyone who has ever gotten the “leftover” Valentine’s day cards in elementary school or suffered through the most popular girl or guy in high school getting dozens of Val-a-grams delivered to them during Algebra class while standing in the corner with one Val-a -gram from their best friend can understand why so many are more than willing to ignore the day once out of the public school system. Certainly, as a life long single woman, I too, have good reason to prefer the day just quietly and quickly slip by as just another date on the calendar. I already know that I will not get a bouquet of flowers delivered to me at work, a special dinner followed by a romantic evening, or any of the traditional things that we believe a Valentine’s gift should look like.

So why would I bother to acknowledge the day? There is something I have noticed over the years about Valentine’s day and the people who choose to celebrate. People that acknowledge Valentine’s day as an adult are actually more likely to be loving and giving throughout the year. By taking one day to say ” This is important to me/” it becomes more likely we will show love, create romance, and make giving to others part of our daily lives. This is why it matters to me. Because I want to be more loving, giving, and to be able to find romance not only in life, but with life itself.

This Valentine’s day I will be working late. It will be parent/teacher conferences and I will be surrounded by children all day and talking with their parents well into the evening. I will have to be creative in how I celebrate. Who can I encourage? Who needs a sincere compliment? Who needs to hear that they are smart, funny, or creative? Who needs to know that I care about them or that their situation is in my prayers? My Valentine’s will not be about chocolate or flowers ( Although I may buy some flowers for myself on my day off. Self-love and all that lol! ) My Valentine’s will be about love.

That’s the secret behind Valentine’s and every other holiday on the calendar. Discovering through participation in the celebration that we receive the love we are looking for when we give it to someone else without the expectation of what we will get in return. The profit margins and popularity contests are not at the heart of Valentine’s day. Neither is grabbing flowers at the last minute in hopes of not catching “what for” from our significant other. Those are distortions that we can correct by focusing on those we love and those who need love.

Besides, if a local florist is able to pay the year’s bills based off of the sales leading up to February 14th, that can be a gift to your local florist- another year staying in the black. That is a pretty great gift for someone trying to put food on the table!

May you have a wonderful Valentine’s day/ weekend. If you have someone special such as a spouse or partner, I wish you a day, weekend, and year of love and romance. If you are single, I wish you much love in all its various forms as well as little hints and reminders of romance in everything around you.

As always, I would love to hear from year. Do you have Valentine’s plans?

Until next time,

Laura