I always feel a little bit sad for the people who spend a run of days in February saying how Valentine’s Day is a made up holiday. These are the same people who call Mother’s Day a Hallmark holiday. Look– all the holidays are ‘made up”. I mean some exuberant personality thought up Thanksgiving and all the others.
And I am one of those people who is grateful and glad. I love all of them. How can a reason to celebrate love or moms or dads or the harvest be bad? Celebrating starts at good and just gets better.
I know the argument that Valentine’s Day is sad for people who are alone. I don’t completely get that either. I mean surely it is sad if you have just lost a love, but the whole point is to celebrate giving love. When the kids were little we made goofy valentines out of lace and bits of ribbon, wrapping paper and foil. Those were some of my favorite Valentine’s Days ever. We would make them for neighbors and everybody we knew. It was a carryover from when I was a little girl and I would make Valentines for the old people at church. It is always about giving love which anybody single or not can do. You can always feel sad or discouraged about something that is missing. But the reverse is also true. You can always be grateful for what you have.

It is easy for me to feel grateful. I have a lot. I have had the same Valentine now for twenty-three years. This year we ran over to NY and saw two movies in the same day, ate well at a cool wine bar with good local foods, and spent the night in a little boutique hotel with chocolate covered strawberries as a midnight treat. Over the course of 23 years we have had a couple bumpy February 14ths. But not for many many years now. We learned how to be married and happy a long time ago and once we got the lessons they stuck. I know this makes me one of the lucky ones. I have a man who makes me laugh every single day and who goes along with practically every wild scheme I dream up. He opens every door and warms up my car and cleans off my windshield. He has a woman who adores him, cooks his favorite foods, plans holiday trips she knows he will love and wakes up every day thinking of ways she can make him happy. It is a good deal.

And this Valentine’s Day we will take a lemon tree to a lady who needs some spring, make outrageous cupcakes for Eli and all his pals, and walk in the woods with these animals we love and who love us back. Ours is not a life without any problems. We make up messes just like everybody else. But also like everybody else we are surrounded by little spots of beauty and love and this is a day to remember and celebrate what there is. There is plenty of love to go around. Go spread some. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone