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A Case for Valentine's Day
I used to hate Valentine's Day. Really hate it. First I hated it because the man I was living with was just not interested in it …which meant that I spent every Valentine's Day wondering if he even remember it and then he always did but it was the end of the day so I would get these cards that said "To my son on Valentine's Day" only my name would be written over the word "son" or the last dozen roses, wilted and bruised, that the local grocery store still had at 9:00 PM.
I got over myself eventually.
Then I decided I hated Valentine's Day because it was clearly a conspiracy thought up by the florist, card and chocolate industry in some back street bar in Chicago to make money in the winter season -- just after Christmas when none of us feel like spending money. After that, living on my own, I hated Valentine's Day because it was a painful reminder that I was Valentine-less.
Even if it was my choice, weeks of advertising for the holiday combined with the explosion of roses and red hearts everywhere made me feel like there was something terribly amiss in my life.
Until I realized that Valentine's Day is what we make it.
There is this teaching: "Love is the ultimate law. Be in tune with it, never go against it." One Valentine's Day it kept popping up in my head like a frigging screen saver until I finally understood that the whole world is our Valentine. Suddenly the earth was my Valentine. So was the man at the gas station and the tiny elderly woman walking across Woodward at .01 mile per hour. The police woman was my Valentine and so was Larry, my favorite petty theft - not that I want him near my car. That day I baked cookies and made Valentines and bought candy and spent the entire day looking for excuses to give a Valentine to just about everybody who looked at me.
It was one of the most fun, and funny, days of my life. Now, I can't wait for Valentine's Day to come around because it gives me the perfect opening for telling my friends I love them and paying special attention to the people, animals, plants and things in my life.
I learned something else that day: when you sit after a day of pure giving, your practice is so clear compared to other days. Why? Because instead of the contracted state most of us live in, we've expanded our hearts. We're in love with the world and it thanks us with wide open sittings.
So here's to Valentine's Day….it just can't get here too soon.
