Happy Valentines Day, Grandma!

I'm a little weary of the Valentines Day haters - those who whine and complain, say it is a holiday made up by card companies, that kind of thing.  ( It is remarkable to me that the same people who hate on this holiday will go to the time, extent, trouble and yes - spend money - sending anti-Valentines Day sentiments. Whassup with that?)

Yesterday at work, a man took a Valentine card off the rack and said to his wife, "Here, this is a Valentine for you. Now I'm going to put it back on the rack!"  He was serious.  I shook my head and thought, "oh boy, aren't you a treasure...."  Of course it isn't about if or  how much you spend, or mandatory card & gift giving. You celebrate  it because you want to, not because you have to.  And before I hear one more time - "Oh, I show my love every day,  I don't need a holiday to force me, " I say well, stupid, you are SUPPOSED to show it every day.  Some days that is more of a challenge than other days, as anyone who has been in a relationship of any kind lasting longer than 15 minutes can tell you.

My Grandma Emma died on Valentines Day many years ago, and it was perfect.  Let me explain - she was a very simple woman, who conceived and bore her children in the same bed, on a farm in Nebraska.  I remember asking her what it was like to give birth at home and she said, "Well, I just did my best, that was all we could do back then." She adored her husband, my Grandpa John, and she loved her Lord.  Grandma's mother died on a holiday - Easter - and she thought that was the most wonderful thing, that you could go to meet your Lord on Easter.  That's when she told me she wanted to die on a holiday.  My Grandpa John died years before she did, and she mourned and missed him profoundly.  When she did pass, I thought it would ruin Valentines Day forever, until I remembered her wish to die on a holiday.  What better day to be reunited with the great loves of her life - her husband and her Lord - than on Valentines Day?

Valentines Day is about love. Period.  All kinds of love - family, friends, pets, lovers, caregivers - all  should be celebrated and acknowledged in whatever manner you like. This acknowledgment of others will enrich your soul, and remind you to give yourself a "Valentine" of some sorts as well.  Here is my favorite Valentine, one my mother did up in calligraphy and I have it hanging in (yes) my bathroom.  I see it every morning and it reminds me every day to love myself in order to love others better.

Thomas à Kempis said, "Keep thyself in peace, and then thou wilt be able to bring others to peace.  Have a zeal, therefore, in the first place over thyself."