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For Star-Crossed Lovers



    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!

   I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet and the river jumps over the mountain and the salmon sing in the street.  - W. H. Auden


Comments

Deb said…
You are a big, sappy, mushball...and I'm so happy that you're so happy!
February 15, 2013 at 5:40 PM
Unknown said…
I am a sappy happy mushball! You've been married yourself for about 57 years now:)
February 15, 2013 at 7:30 PM
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