For love’s sake!

“The mouth is made for communication,
and nothing is more articulate than a kiss.”
–Jarod Kintz

Ah, romance. Romance, romance, romance. For some, it’s the softness of a rose petal on the cheek, the tenderness of true love’s kiss, and the tickle of sweet-nothings whispered in one’s ear.

For others, however, romance is the oily feeling in the pit of their stomach just before throwing up. I really, really hope, if you’re reading this, love has been much kinder to you and the thought of cupid doesn’t strike you in a murderous mood.

It seems to me, every year a lot of people say: “Why celebrate your love only one day a year, it should be celebrated every single day.” Pardon me while I snort. I’m wondering if those people have jobs that leave them exhausted at the end of the day, if they have ever wondered how they were going to pay the bills, do they have children, do they occasionally have opinions that differ from their significant others that cause an argument… Do they do laundry? (Ugh, I hate laundry.)

Because sometimes life’s bullshit just sort of prevents us from always expressing our love and devotion the way we should – in steps Valentine’s Day. Yes, a completely made up holiday that makes millions for the greeting card companies, chocolate makers, and whatever company it is that makes those stuffed animals that are adored for a week and then donated to the closest thrift store.

Most holidays are only once a year. Veteran’s Day is once a year, but shouldn’t we thank our veterans more than that? The Fourth of July is once a year… as are Christmas, Easter, Superbowl Sunday… you see where I’m going with this? (And yes, I know that Superbowl Sunday is not technically a holiday, but I live in Southern America where practically every time the stadium lights go on, it’s a damned holiday.)

So what is the big deal about there being one day to stop and dedicate yourself to making sure your SO knows, despite all the drudgery the rest of the year may bring, you are as smitten with them as you can possibly be? Does that give you the green light to be a jerk the rest of the year? Of course not, silly.

If you’re that opposed to giving those greedy greeting card people a few bucks for a three line poem, here’s a thought: WRITE A LOVE LETTER. What a lost art that has become with the rise of texting and emoticons. Revive it. Make it mushy, gushy, and chock-full of the purplest purple-y purple prose your mind can concoct.

And above all else: Love. Imagine a world where we all truly celebrated love more than we allowed ourselves to hate.

If you’re alone on Valentine’s Day – show a friend, a sibling, parent, cousin, neighbor – anyone – how much they are appreciated. Go out and buy a box of those silly cards we gave out as kids, fill one out for each of your coworkers and brighten up everyone’s day at the office. (Just keep it clean in the office, k? I don’t want you to blame me if you wind up in the unemployment line.)

Maybe, if we all could see past the whole greedy greeting card thing, we would all celebrate love a little more and more often.

Tell me! What is the sweetest thing ever done for you on Valentine’s Day, or do you have any Valentine’s horror stories?

[Quickly, my sweetest: My husband, then boyfriend, for our first Valentine’s Day, spent all day learning how to make Chicken Marsala to absolute perfection. | My horror story? An ex-boyfriend gave me a “life map.” He told me when we were getting married (never asked), how many kids we would have, what I was going to college for, and lastly – that I had to change the kind of music I listen to because it isn’t ladylike enough. This was accompanied with a Backstreet Boys CD and very quickly thereafter a breakup. :-)]

Happy Valentine’s Day, my lovelies. Xo

Advertisement