Ahh, St. Valentine’
s Day.
Supposedly Claudius
the Cruel ordered St. Valentine to be beaten and beheaded on February 14 around
270 AD. It seems Valentine, a Roman Catholic priest, continued to celebrate
marriages after Ol’ Claudius had forbidden engagements and marriages, seeing
them as a threat to his recruitment of Roman soldiers.
That’s quite a
little history for a day that has come to mean roses and Whitman Samplers.
I remember all
those years I didn’t have a Valentine to think about. I didn’t have to write a
schmoopy message inside a rose-covered card. I didn’t have to come up with
boxers or bow ties covered with hearts. I only had to make sure my kids had
Valentine’s Day cards and a giant Hershey’s kiss or one of those orange
flavored chocolate balls they used to love.
Nowadays though,
I’m right in there with everybody else. My husband gave me my box of chocolates
two days early and I’m pretty sure that was because he couldn’t wait for me to
share them. This morning I put his
carefully crafted love letter on top of a box of chocolate covered cherries and
placed them in the bathroom where I know he’s more likely to find them.
Love takes on a
sweeter, mellower shade as we get older. We don’t need canons shooting off a
barrage of Cupid’s arrows when a nice, long look or reaching out to hold our
partner’s hand as we walk into the hardware store works just fine. I’m finding
even love is better as I get older, which is a nice surprise.
Here’s hoping your
Valentine’s Day is sweet and full of good thoughts, but then again that’s how
every day should be!
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