It's St. Valentine's Day, and I feel like I should write a post about love. There's only an hour or so left in the day and I want to be timely. Should I make a list? Those are efficient. So then, thoughts about Valentine's Day and/or love:
**My favorite recent quote about love, which I put in funky typewriter font and posted on the outside of my cubicle wall, where it has arrested a few passers-by. It's Ranier Maria Rilke: "For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation."
**Love, I think, is the thing which gets me up in the morning - and I am NOT a morning person.
**My mother, who has not had a sweetheart for...oh, well, it's in the decades now, I think...told me today that she does not like Valentine's Day. It comes very close to her birthday, so I had just talked to her, but I called again because I know she doesn't like these holidays alone. "Should I wish you a happy Valentine's Day?" I asked. "Or do you not want me to?" "I hate it," she said definitively. To me, it's not a big deal, but I think it's one of those things where it's only a big deal if something doesn't happen - like the person who doesn't appreciate the chauffeur until they have to drive themsevles somewhere - with a sprained ankle.
**Singles feel left out on Valentine's Day. I think I have not been single on Valentine's Day since I was 11 or 12, maybe. I've always had some man (or more than one - not to sound racy, but you know, male friends) to give me some love - the traditional flowers and/or candy (which I still like just fine), dinner, attention, verbal confirmation of love. Everyone likes verbal confirmation of love - or, I assume they do. I am not the type of person who has difficulty saying "I love you"; in fact, I am often the first person to say it in any given relationship. But I know there are people who DO have trouble saying it. Those three little words - they are important, right? I think one of the reasons FOR Valentine's Day is there are all those people (and when I say people, I mean mostly men: sad but still kind of true) that never talk about love. So when we have at least ONE day when you're *supposed* to talk about love, it frees up all those folks that have a hard time normally. They get an excuse to speak of their love. I mean, they know it's expected, so it's a little easier to bring up, right? That's the idea, anyway.
**I was thinking back to past boyfriends, and was reminded of one who gave me a note that had such a mis-spelling on it, it made me actually like him less. He really wanted to sleep with me, and after trying all other methods, he resorted to pathetic (but, you know, charming) whining and accusing. "You are such a prude," he wrote me, only he spelled it "prued," which was so off from the actual spelling that it literally confused me for a minute. His handwriting, I recall, was also poor and hard to decipher. However, he signed the statement with a sort of stream of tears, and it did in fact move me deeply. It's a testament to what I self-indulgent jerk I could be in those days that I actually did judge him for that. Oh well - past loves partially exist to teach you lessons.
** Ever since I was a teenager, I've always liked those silly grade-school Valentines - the ones that come 25 or 30 to a box, for $1.99, and are themed - usually bad themes, like some lame cartoon character. This year, I was weeding through Transformers and Little Mermaid and cheeseburgers (what kind of stupid theme is THAT? It's not even a person!) and started to feel desperate until I found the Dr. Seuss ones. The jackpot! "Do you like green eggs and ham on Valentine's Day?" they read. Horton (the one Who Hears a Who) wishes you a fun day! One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish all tell you that funny things can happen on this special day! Who can resist that? I gave them out to my housemates and co-workers. One year, I gave out Jack Sparrows - that was a real find too.
**Which brings me to love at work, which, as you know, I am a BIG fan of. I'm always trying to get more love happening at work. Actually, it does happen quite a bit, rather organically, but we get busy, and I work in the more office environment part of my grocery company, and the love is not as easily drummed up. There's something about conference calls and budget meetings and the like which can really seem loveless. Not me. I see it everywhere. I usually keep it to myself, or let it shine when appropriate. I was at the corporate headquarters last week ("Global") and I found more than a little love. People were earnest, and passionate, and understanding, and desirous of being kind and compassionate. They love the culture of the company - which promotes the human side of things, the person part of it all.
And I went down from the offices, after a particularly inspiring meeting (yes, an inspiring meeting; I said it before, I will say it again), down to the store below, which was all decorated for Valentine's Day, and decorated very well, in shades of pink and red. Signage everywhere spoke to customers - but also, you know, to my heart - about showing love. Let it out, the signs said. What have you got to lose when you show your love? And then I was overwhelmed, suddenly, as I can be; in this case, overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of love. By the kindness of strangers - my co-workers are incredibly welcoming, disposed towards each other, ready and open and willing to genuinely LIKE each other. By the stories I had heard, of things working out well, for the best. By all the people I hadn't seen since the last time I was at headquarters, in 2005 or so; so many of them were still there, and so happy to see me (and me them). So there I found myself, verklempt in the housewares aisle. I moved to the wine section nearby, just so I would be out of the way and not alarm any shoppers. Because I was feeling loved, and loving. AND I was at work!
**And finally, a Dr. Seuss quote actually above love: “You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” I don't think that's confined to "in love" with a person, because my reality is often better than my dreams. Certainly, it's often more delightful in ways I could not have imagined.
May today be the same for you: delightful in ways you cannot have imagined. Happy St. Valentine's Day.
**My favorite recent quote about love, which I put in funky typewriter font and posted on the outside of my cubicle wall, where it has arrested a few passers-by. It's Ranier Maria Rilke: "For one human being to love another; that is perhaps the most difficult of all our tasks, the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation."
**Love, I think, is the thing which gets me up in the morning - and I am NOT a morning person.
**My mother, who has not had a sweetheart for...oh, well, it's in the decades now, I think...told me today that she does not like Valentine's Day. It comes very close to her birthday, so I had just talked to her, but I called again because I know she doesn't like these holidays alone. "Should I wish you a happy Valentine's Day?" I asked. "Or do you not want me to?" "I hate it," she said definitively. To me, it's not a big deal, but I think it's one of those things where it's only a big deal if something doesn't happen - like the person who doesn't appreciate the chauffeur until they have to drive themsevles somewhere - with a sprained ankle.
**Singles feel left out on Valentine's Day. I think I have not been single on Valentine's Day since I was 11 or 12, maybe. I've always had some man (or more than one - not to sound racy, but you know, male friends) to give me some love - the traditional flowers and/or candy (which I still like just fine), dinner, attention, verbal confirmation of love. Everyone likes verbal confirmation of love - or, I assume they do. I am not the type of person who has difficulty saying "I love you"; in fact, I am often the first person to say it in any given relationship. But I know there are people who DO have trouble saying it. Those three little words - they are important, right? I think one of the reasons FOR Valentine's Day is there are all those people (and when I say people, I mean mostly men: sad but still kind of true) that never talk about love. So when we have at least ONE day when you're *supposed* to talk about love, it frees up all those folks that have a hard time normally. They get an excuse to speak of their love. I mean, they know it's expected, so it's a little easier to bring up, right? That's the idea, anyway.
**I was thinking back to past boyfriends, and was reminded of one who gave me a note that had such a mis-spelling on it, it made me actually like him less. He really wanted to sleep with me, and after trying all other methods, he resorted to pathetic (but, you know, charming) whining and accusing. "You are such a prude," he wrote me, only he spelled it "prued," which was so off from the actual spelling that it literally confused me for a minute. His handwriting, I recall, was also poor and hard to decipher. However, he signed the statement with a sort of stream of tears, and it did in fact move me deeply. It's a testament to what I self-indulgent jerk I could be in those days that I actually did judge him for that. Oh well - past loves partially exist to teach you lessons.
** Ever since I was a teenager, I've always liked those silly grade-school Valentines - the ones that come 25 or 30 to a box, for $1.99, and are themed - usually bad themes, like some lame cartoon character. This year, I was weeding through Transformers and Little Mermaid and cheeseburgers (what kind of stupid theme is THAT? It's not even a person!) and started to feel desperate until I found the Dr. Seuss ones. The jackpot! "Do you like green eggs and ham on Valentine's Day?" they read. Horton (the one Who Hears a Who) wishes you a fun day! One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish all tell you that funny things can happen on this special day! Who can resist that? I gave them out to my housemates and co-workers. One year, I gave out Jack Sparrows - that was a real find too.
**Which brings me to love at work, which, as you know, I am a BIG fan of. I'm always trying to get more love happening at work. Actually, it does happen quite a bit, rather organically, but we get busy, and I work in the more office environment part of my grocery company, and the love is not as easily drummed up. There's something about conference calls and budget meetings and the like which can really seem loveless. Not me. I see it everywhere. I usually keep it to myself, or let it shine when appropriate. I was at the corporate headquarters last week ("Global") and I found more than a little love. People were earnest, and passionate, and understanding, and desirous of being kind and compassionate. They love the culture of the company - which promotes the human side of things, the person part of it all.
And I went down from the offices, after a particularly inspiring meeting (yes, an inspiring meeting; I said it before, I will say it again), down to the store below, which was all decorated for Valentine's Day, and decorated very well, in shades of pink and red. Signage everywhere spoke to customers - but also, you know, to my heart - about showing love. Let it out, the signs said. What have you got to lose when you show your love? And then I was overwhelmed, suddenly, as I can be; in this case, overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of love. By the kindness of strangers - my co-workers are incredibly welcoming, disposed towards each other, ready and open and willing to genuinely LIKE each other. By the stories I had heard, of things working out well, for the best. By all the people I hadn't seen since the last time I was at headquarters, in 2005 or so; so many of them were still there, and so happy to see me (and me them). So there I found myself, verklempt in the housewares aisle. I moved to the wine section nearby, just so I would be out of the way and not alarm any shoppers. Because I was feeling loved, and loving. AND I was at work!
**And finally, a Dr. Seuss quote actually above love: “You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.” I don't think that's confined to "in love" with a person, because my reality is often better than my dreams. Certainly, it's often more delightful in ways I could not have imagined.
May today be the same for you: delightful in ways you cannot have imagined. Happy St. Valentine's Day.
Thanks Kar. Today was delightful in ways unexpected and in ways that affirmed I've been making choices that suit the individual that is me. And that makes me happy. I cannot and do not care to complain about not having a male companion on Valentine's Day. Love is literally in the air, I believe it lives there (at least in the mountain air) and it was especially dense as it hailed and snowed upon me this evening. I love the mountain air. I love it here. I love my new, young and blossoming love affair with nature, with Mother Earth, with Life. Yay.
ReplyDelete