Thursday, February 14, 2013

A Reminder of Happiness and Love

Forget flowers? No problem, if you live in NYC.
Just buy them on the street.

Happy Valentine's Day romance lovers!

Single, in a relationship or married, I have been a pretty big fan of this day ever since I discovered romance novels almost fifteen years ago. What I loved about the romance novel, almost instantly, was that I knew that, without a doubt, I would be happy when the book ended. Two wildly good-looking people would discover that they were perfect for each other, and would go on to live happily ever after. And if, by chance, the book was part of a trilogy, as most of my favorites are, than we would get to see this wildly good-looking couple live happily-ever after beyond the confines of their own story. About as perfect as you can get.

There is so much sadness and hate everywhere these days. You can't read a newspaper or turn on the news without hearing something guaranteed to make you cringe, which is why I almost never do either of those things unless I absolutely have to.

When I open the New York Times I only read stories like this one, about 97 year old Ada Bryant and 86 year old Robert Haire, who were married last month after meeting in a Retirement Community. Because how can you not smile at their most unusual love story and while reading sentences like "The bride, 97, is keeping her name."

Leave the sadness for someone else, just give me the happy please.

So I have always liked this day. This day that celebrates love, and romance, and happiness. I get the arguments against it. You shouldn't need a day to tell the people close to you that you love them, love should be celebrated every day, and blah, blah, blah. But, we're human, and we're busy and tired and occasionally pretty self-focused. And sometimes, we need a little reminder to appreciate the people in our lives.

Romance novels, and Valentine's Day, for me, are that reminder. To focus on love and happiness. To value the idea of being inextricably connected with another person, be it a partner, spouse, sibling, or friend. We live in a big bad world, and grabbing some time to focus on goodness in our lives can never hurt.

And today, that reminder is everywhere. This morning when I woke up, I decided to have a little treat in honor of this delightful day, and I thought that a couple donut holes along with my regular coffee and romance novel would be just the thing. But when I made my habitual stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way to the train, there were no donut holes, there was only this:

Only heart-shaped donuts on the menu today

I've read enough already this morning to know that its popular, and fashionable even, to grumble about this heart shaped day. But I think maybe it's time to shift focus. To make this day about celebrating the miracle of the connections in our lives, be they romantic or otherwise. To focus on the people who make our lives happier, richer, and infinitely worth living. 

And, if you're so inclined, while you are appreciating all those people, grab yourself a pink, heart-shaped and frosted snack this morning. 

I already did, and it was glorious.

7 comments:

  1. I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but I do love all things heart-shaped because I'm a girly-girl like that! And those donuts! I love them especially because DD only has them once a year.

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  2. Amen to connections and focusing on the goodness in the world! I'll take any day that helps me remember to enjoy the people in my life. And I'm so happy to get your blog posts in my email now!

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  3. I don't have a problem with Valentines day overall, it's just not the easiest day when you are single and wish you weren't. Sure, you can focus on other kinds of love, but that's not as fun, right? :)

    The arguments agains Valentine's day annoy me, though. Do we say we shouldn't celebrate someone's birthday because we should be celebrating them all year? Or shouldn't celebrate any other holiday because we should be celebrating that all year, too? It's just a dumb argument.

    Happy Valentine's day to you! I hope you have a great romance novel for this weekend :)

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  4. What an awesomely positive perspective on the day. Those donuts do look good! :)

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  5. I like your perspective. Very positive. Also, anything that includes donuts is okay by me :)

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  6. Hi Samantha,

    I'm all for positive. I sometimes think there should be a news station that just does positive news. As it is now, I don't even listen/watch because it's just too depressing.

    Found you via Yeah Write and A to Z and love your positiveness!

    Bradley Charbonneau's Pass the Sour Cream A-Z Challenge.

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