“I have learned not to worry about love; but to honor its coming with all my heart.”
– Alice Walker
No matter how you feel about Valentine’s Day it is easier to embrace it than try to deny its existence. I can remember exchanging valentines in elementary school. I’d select the package of “be mine” messages that best suited me and decide who was worthy of receiving one (there were only so many in a package after all!). It was a lot of pressure for a kid and I think that V-day anxiety carries over to adulthood for some.
I started working for a florist when I was 16 years old so Feb. 14 always meant a lot of work and late hours for me. As a florist you see so many faces on Valentine’s week…husbands, fathers, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands buying flowers for their wives AND their girlfriends, Yes, someone actually admitted that to me once!!!…and it was pretty easy to jump on the anti-Valentine’s Day bandwagon.
Since I have a floral design business that focuses on weddings rather than holidays my icy Valentine’s Day exterior has begun to melt away and I have come back around to the other side of not minding V-day so much and may in fact embrace it this year. My husband and I are taking today off to ski and tomorrow we’ll be getting massages at Cynthea’s Spa…not a bad plan so far, huh?!
How did all this get started? In case you are interested here’s a little Valentine legend for you about the origin of the first ‘valentine’ greeting sent by St. Valentine himself… While in prison, it is believed that Valentine fell in love with a young girl (who may have been his jailor’s daughter) who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed ‘From your Valentine,’ an expression that we still use today. Although the stories behind the Valentine legends are varied as to why Feb. 14 is the date and who St. Valentine actually was, they accentuate the tradition of romance and love.
According to history.com approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women. In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia. The moral of this story is step it up boys!
