Valentine Changes

Valentine's Day changes over the years. As a kid, I spent the night before working on a box to receive Valentines and signing Valentines to be given. The last year, when I was in fifth grade, I covered a box with white tissue paper, then pasted images from a doll's box I had. She was Peace, but she had the counter parts of Love and Flower, I believe. It was 1972, after all. Peace had luxurious black hair to her mid back. She wasn't as buxom as Barbie. Just a petite little doll bigger than Skipper displaying a calm face with doe brown eyes. At almost eleven, this was a very cool box, I thought. I forgot about Soul, till I looked it up on Google. My sister gave me Soul for being in her wedding, later that year. Not mine. I forgot the red boots. So very cool.
As a little girl, I just wanted that extra loving from a special boy. I probably thought of boys too much with maybe holding hands and a peck on the cheek. Friendship, really, is what I seek. Yeah, rhyming words spring to mind often lately. And I wanted to look like Peace. Now, I want to emit peace.
As a teen, Valentine's Day had a vague idea of spending that day with someone special or not, if no one special graced my life. My first Valentine's Day with my not sure he would be my husband involved finding a card that wouldn't say too much, but I was "falling" for him. His said, "If I told you, you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?" Ah, things haven't changed that much.
The next year in 1981, a blizzard roared through western Pennsylvania on February twelfth. Big surprise, there, huh? David's brother married on the fourteenth with that snow covering so wonderfully and bright blue skies. The only Valentine's Day, my husband wore red and white, like in a white tux with a red ruffle shirt. I thought he looked wonderful.
Children add a new dimension to this holiday of love. Can they add more to your life? Love grows. Red pop (sorry soda for my non-western Pennsylvania readers) filled glasses when they were young. Red plates, homemade sugar cookies or heart shaped cakes or pancakes decorated my table. Big red hearts in the window to announce a beautiful holiday.
And one year celebrating this holiday at church with dainty cards inscribed with scriptures. Of course, 1 Corinthians 13, but also 1 John 4. What is love? God is love. The holiday became God's that year. Romantic love comprises a small portion of this wonderful day, I give back to Jesus. God gives all love and this holiday is now one of my favorites. I quote Robert Frost, "and that has made all the difference."