Maybe Because of A Year of Pandemic?
Why this year's Valentine's Day? It is now four years since I started to spend Valentine's Day as a single. The first year my children went together and ordered me two dozen red roses. In subsequent years I have bought my own roses and even indulged sometimes in some better than average chocolates. But this year this event seems a bit hollow. On Friday afternoon when I was doing my weekly grocery shopping quite a few of the other shoppers were men who were in the store checking out and buying flowers, balloons, and Valentine sweets for their loved ones. For some reason this bothered me more than it has in the last four years. It brought back memories of special dinners out that, in the last years, included a vase of a dozen red roses to bring home at the end of the meal. It also reminded me of the first year I ever received a Valentine card from my future husband. He had created it himself with a silly little verse about only being able to afford a single rose. Somewhere I still have that card. There were years when we lived in Virginia when we had heavy snows on Valentine's Day and, with a six hundred foot long driveway, that meant parking the car at the end of the driveway and walking all the way up to the house through the snow. But my husband did that carrying the vase of roses that he had ordered and picked up on his way home from work. The first year we were married, we were very poor college students, so dinner out was not an option, and I don't recall flowers either. But I do remember cooking a steak dinner with all the trimmings, finished off with fresh raspberry mousse for dessert. And, of course, dinner was by candlelight, too. There are other days in the year when I am reminded that I am special to others, and I am very thankful for all of them and the people who take the time to make sure that I am remembered. And, actually until this year, they have been enough. I think that having to live in a bit of a bubble for the last year, feeling cut off from most normal interpersonal relations, has to be at least part of the reason that on this Valentine's Day I feel a sense of loss that I have not felt before. I rather expect I am not unique either. So for all of the rest of you out there on this Valentine's Day who may be feeling a bit lost and lonely, I am sure that better days are coming. And I am also sure that you, like me, really do know that there are others in your life that value and love you and would want you to be their "Valentine". Last week-end my granddaughter, gave me an early special Valentine greeting she had created along with a couple of gifts that she had also made so that I would know how much she loves me. I love her for doing that. But it does make me realize even more the importance of letting those you care about know it. So my Valentine message to all of you from me is thanks for being my friend. Writing these daily posts during the last year has often given me a daily purpose. I happily make an effort every day to make sure that there will be a new blog post because I don't want to let any of you down, and I want you to know how much you mean to me. Each one of you are my Valentine.