Valentine’s Day

Theories abound about the origin of V-Day, but the most popular legend is about a Catholic priest who lived in the 3rd century. The story goes that Father Valentine was imprisoned and executed for performing marriages for Christian couples secretly during a time when the Roman Empire banned marriage.

Father Valentine sent a letter to the jailor’s daughter, who had visited him in prison, signed “From your Valentine,” This act of love inspired the modern celebration of Valentine’s Day as a day of love and romance.

So, a priest sent a love letter to his jailer’s daughter. That’s not creepy, is it?

If you are single and without a love connection on Valentine’s Day, it’s important to remember that your relationship status does not define your self-worth. Have fun with the day.

Here are a few things that might help you have a positive and enjoyable day:

Celebrate self-love: Treat yourself to something you love like a special meal, a movie, a new book, or whatever brings you joy.
Spend time with friends or family: Surround yourself with people who love and support you. Have a Galentine’s or Palentine’s Day.
Reach out to others in need of a kind word or gesture.
Embrace your inner cat/dog/plant parent: Spend the day spoiling your furry, feathered, or leafy friends with extra treats, belly rubs, and TLC. They love you unconditionally.
Embrace your inner grinch: Wear all black, listen to sad songs, and eat junk food.

A couple of poems to my daily loves (and I use that word loosely):

A Valentine for My Computer:

My love for you is like a virus

It spreads through my computer with ease,

I can’t function without you,

You’re my RAM, my hard drive,

my keys to everything

****

Anonymous

A Valentine for My Cell Phone:

You light up my life,

You’re always by my side

glowing in the dark

when I’m alone

*****

m.alvaradofrazier

Whatever you do, focus on what makes you happy and surround yourself with optimism and humor. So go ahead, have some laughs and enjoy the holiday on your own terms.

My Valentine to you:

February 14th is also Library Lover’s Day and International Book Giving Day.

Share the message with someone. Thanks for reading, and enjoy your week.

Mothers of daughters are daughters of mothers and have remained so, in circles joined to circles, since time began.

Signe Hammer

Ah, February, a month that begins with love. This is not because of Valentine’s Day but rather because my daughter was born on February 1st.

I laid on the chilly stainless steel bed in the operating room pissed off that I couldn’t bear my child ‘naturally.’ After hours of labor, I needed a C-section.

“You’ll be awake, at least. Not like the first time,” my husband said.

The memory of the emergency cesarean I had with my son, after twenty-four hours of labor, an epidural and a spinal block, shifted through my body.

I pushed aside my feeling of failure, for that’s what I believed having a c-section meant instead of vaginal birth.

The intake of breath of the doctor and nurse made my heart sink until both of them said,

“Look at that hair!” and my husband yelled “A girl.”

I held my nine-pound bundle of a baby girl with her halo of dark hair and creamy soft skin and breathed easy.

There is an old Mexican tradition of naming a child after the baby’s grandmother but we didn’t need another “Maria,” much to my mother’s chagrin. I gave my daughter a name that is a combination of my mother’s name and my middle name.

Already having a rambunctious son, I wanted a daughter to cuddle for more than a minute but as she grew, she had her rowdy times too as well as her playtime talking with her dolls and the family dog.

Now my daughter’s hair is dyed chrome silver after having been aqua, green, and jet black in earlier years. So hair is a focal point even to this day.

It’s a wonder how a baby shoots up to a kindergartener, a teenager and on to a young adult.

Sometimes, I forget my daughter is no longer a dependent kid but an independent woman who lived on her own for five years in Denver, bought her own car, pays her own bills, takes good care of her cat, and has managed to travel to Chicago, New York, and Houston on her own dime.

In the years between those two spectrums I hope I’ve given her the three beliefs that are listed in the quote above:

The confidence to know her self-worth
The strength to chase her dreams
The ability to know how truly, deeply loved she is

I am a definite on the last two and I’m reminding myself to speak out on the first one more often.

So, on February first I celebrated my daughter, in the month of love, and with my own personal Valentine.

Tag: Valentine’s Day

Doing Valentine’s Day Your Way