Valentines A day for love.

Valentines. The day of love. Heart day. SAD (single awareness day) Halmark greeting card day. 

Whatever you want to call it. Today was the day. 

I haven't had the most spectacular history with this holiday- not that I didn't date sweet and caring men, no the contrary actually, they were sweet and kind and caring most days of the year, but all that pressure on February 14th seemed to make everyone a little more than uncomfortable, and I ended more February 14 nights with tears, uncomfortable silences or alone, than I would care to admit. 

But the truth of the matter is, love is love no matter what day it is, and I don't need flowers or fancy food to prove that to me. I just need the truth of love in my heart. Hands to hold, to give it in kind. That's what I find is the real thing about love, it's not exclusive to your boyfriend, or your girlfriend.

 Love is something supremely sharable.  

I awoke this valentines day morning to a black and white border collie smelling of dog and dirt, curled and cuddled in the crook of my body in my tiny cabin in the woods in Colorado. She whined at me and her tail thumped the bed like some kind of instrument, played with gusto. 

Good morning, good morning, good morning! she said. 

Dim sunlight passed through my yellow curtains and lit the room. It was chilly outside of my blankets and I huddled warmly underneath, before gathering courage and flinging back the covers to greet the day.

Breakfast was french toast, sweet local honey dripping down my fingers as I stood in the empty kitchen in the sun. Such beauty all around me. 

Now, one of my favorite things, about my little valley, is that on valentines day we have a whole section in our local paper -not a news paper, think craigslist- that is dedicated to printing valentines. I found my copy from last year some weeks ago and saved it from my fireplace, instead staying up late reading it. There are valentines of all kinds, to grandkids and mothers and wives and crushes. Some are cute and some are scary, some make me well up, and others I feel are generated from a candid view of this holiday- a little on the plastic side. 

But it made me love my valley, that much more, all the dynamics, the po-dunk, the high school sweet hearts, the couple in the middle of a divorce, and the special valentine dedicated to a woman's cat. I laugh, but in truth it makes me so grateful for love in all it's shapes and forms, no matter how small.

I waited in the sun outside of the library, bundled up in my coat and hat and scarf, waiting for the skype line to connect me to the other side of the world. I waited. I could hear it ringing, in it's odd skype way and then it connected and I could see his face. Joy. 

As I may have mentioned, I'm not a huge fan of long distant relationships, but I must say I am a fan of Skype. The ability to see the face of someone you love, so far away. It really is magic.

And then, as if magic were growing on the souls of my shoes today, I was astounded, delighted and amazed to open my local paper today and find this:

Happy love day y'all. I am thankful for love, in all it's shapes and forms, for the pain and for the lessons it has taught me and is teaching me. I am thankful for a life that is full in love. And I am thankful for each and everyone one of the people in my life who share with me and show me lov, everyday. I am blessed in you. And blessed to love.