Valentine Reflections
So this week I’ve been thinking about Valentine’s Day (a personal favorite of mine since it is my mother’s birthday.) I have heard other people sometimes grumble about consumerism, guilt-trip dates & way too much pressure to be especially romantic. I for the most part have ignored such sentiments since my experience with Valentine’s Day was primarily making lots of homemade cards for my school friends, and then making lots of homemade cards for my children’s school friends. We are up to 62 valentines. As a rule, we never bought greeting cards or other trinkets with the exception of birthday presents for mom. The romantic side of the holiday rarely came up in my youth – but I did like the general willingness of people to get into a more “loving” space in their lives. It was a nice holiday, not bogged down with religious ideologies, or nationalistic movements.
The notion of romanticism briefly entered my consciousness when my brother proposed to my now sister-in-law on Valentine’s Day, but honestly, I did not dwell with this as the happy news grossly overshadowed the when, how and why.
This week, as we make our plethora of Valentines, I have had several conversations with fans & hold-outs of Valentine’s Day. The fans and I speak the same language –it’s all fuzzy, fuzzy warm feelings and doily, homemade greeting cards. Valentine’s Day is a holiday where my inclination for poetry is perfectly suited. The foes of the day, I think put way too much stock into the “grand gesture”. I can assure you this is in no way required. It is instead, just a day for a little extra acknowledgement to tell the people you care about in your life that you… well… care about them. Hopefully in a bit of a creative way.
Happy Valentine’s Day
Dawn Wood & the entire Awn-Guard team