Valentine's Day

Ah, Valentine’s Day. Under normal circumstances, I think this might be a holiday that I would like. It’s traditional, it’s intimate, it’s a time to celebrate the love in our lives. This might be romantic love, this might be best friend love or family love or baby love or self love. We have so many holidays that focus on gratitude, peace and joy…but we don’t have too many holidays that allow us to solely focus on love.

If you’ve been reading my blog this month, you know I’ve been a little glass-half-empty on love this February. Fortunately, today feels a little bit different. I know a lot of single ladies (and gentlemen) who are feeling down this day, but I also know a lot of ladies who have reached out to their lady friends and told them how much their friendship means to them. I’ve gotten numerous emails, texts and phone calls today from the ladies in my life telling me how much they love me on Valentine’s Day.

I think we take this day too literally. We don’t have just one valentine that we have to wait for cupid to align us with if we haven’t been lucky enough to find him or her already. We have valentines in our friends, family, boyfriends and girlfriends, co-workers, teachers and mentors. We don’t need candlelit dinners and prix fixe menus to celebrate the love in our lives. What we do need is open hearts and the courage to acknowledge the love that makes us happy, lifts us up and encourages us.

I have a friend whom I admire very much in her ability to love. She LOVES love. She loves romantic love and friend love and family love and self love and stranger love. Her heart doesn’t know how to be jealous. When I tell her sweet things M does for me or how much I love him, I know she’s sharing in my joy. Her heart loves that my heart loves. I am frequently guilty of comparing other people’s love to my own love. If a friend’s boyfriend does something incredibly darling, I wonder if M would do that for me. If someone’s family has a lovely way of showing love for each other, I wonder if my family feels that way. When I see someone be kind to a stranger, I wonder if I would give that love to a stranger. But we don’t get anything from comparing our love. There is more than enough to go around. It’s like that old cliché about lighting a candle. It takes no light away from my own candle to light someone else’s. In the same way, it takes no love out of my heart to love someone else’s love, to give more love, to grow the love I already have.

So on this Valentine’s Day I am loving all the love I have, loving all the love YOU have and finding ways to grow all the love in my heart.

To love,

Lia