I think my first memory of Valentine’s Day was being in the 4th grade. I have this picture of me sitting at my desk cutting out crepe paper red hearts and drawing arrows and then making lists of girls to give these etchings to. I don’t recall if there were any boys on my list.
I then recall that during my teen years my mother started giving our family small gifts on Valentine’s Day. I seem to remember receiving my first razor on a Valentine’s Day. There wasn’t much to shave but it did feel like some sort of passage, maybe not into adulthood but a smoother face.
Fast forward to adulthood and the benefit of some great relationships including my primary one with my partner. Recall that I shared some lessons that I am learning in last month’s 25th anniversary post.
So much of my life has been an “inside-out” job. Maybe it is because of my childhood, maybe because I am such an introvert, maybe because I was a Roman Catholic seminarian for so long. Maybe it’s a combination of all three. Who knows. But one of the lessons that Valentine’s Day reminds me of are the words I heard long ago from a street troubadour on a Boston street singing The Greatest Love of All by Whitney Houston:
[blockquote type=”blockquote_quotes”]The greatest love of all is easy to achieve. Learning to love yourself. It is the greatest love of all.[/blockquote]Maybe it’s by loving ourselves and finding a sense of personal acceptance and peace that we create a true clearing to love and be loved by another. Maybe . . .
Happy Valentine’s Day!