Valentines Day, some say, is a silly day! Buy flowers. Buy candy. Buy love… No, I am not a cynical person, quite the contrary; I am a Lover of Life, and all its many loves. But unless you have something to market, ie sell, on Valentines Day, don’t you think it’s time to ponder the many ways to best celebrate Valentines Day?
If you are a ‘thinker’ an analytical person (which I am), you may already know of the dark history of Valentines Day; ain’t no candy and roses here! If you are a single parent, which I have been for most of my parenting life, Valentines Day leaves a ‘sting’ of troubling thoughts. If you are widowed, or recently broken from a relationship you once valued, or you and your mate are separated by one of life’s complicated situations, this day might feel better, skipped over, BUT DON’T! As for me, I have always chosen to make Valentines Day a day to be grateful for the many loves in my life, and have figured out how to celebrated it that way.
When my four children were young, I squashed the ole concepts of Valentines Day being for lovers, and made it about the four beautiful loves of my life. I made a special dinner, dressed us all up, set a beautiful table, set a small gift on each of their plates, and made the evening a ‘Love Celebration’.
When I stepped into a marriage, for all the wrong reasons, Valentines Day felt a slap in my face, and so instead of whining about the mistake I had made, the romance that was absent from that union, I did the next best thing: I threw the biggest damn romantic Valentine Parties you ever saw! I was amazed at how many couples were grateful to have someone else create a celebration evening, and give them a reason to get dressed up and go out. I hired musicians, often people I knew, I cooked for days, I hired teens, of some of the parents that would be attending, and paid them to serve food, keep the kitchen tidy, and dishes washed. I sent out invitations and required: Cocktail Attire. I even visited the local funeral home and discovered they would give me the excess (expensive) flower arrangements, once I told them what it was for, so I could repurpose them for the tables I was preparing. These evenings turned into something magical. I spent so much time and attention making the evening special for so many people that I never noticed the tiny hole in my own heart. For all I knew, many of the couples attending suffered silently, with the same.
Now, as I have joined the numbers of married couples, I have discovered that many live different lives in private than they appear to live in public:
- Stay together for the sake of the kids
- Too costly to split
- Happy but bored
- Happy and NOT reading this story (wink)
- Comfortable and don’t try to analyze it
BUT… come Valentines Day, most of us give a moment or two of thought to the topic of Love. So, why not plan ahead, be ready for this silly day before it arrives and do something special with it, in spite of it!
I have created a few ideas for you and most involve using your home as a date night for a variety of date night situations. I hope you will find them inspiring:
Try something new! Be creative! Use your home as a special setting for a fun evening! Fall in LOVE with YOU and celebrate all your wonderfulness!
