Originally posted on 2/13/25.
Valentine’s Day
I recently Googled, “What do most people want for Valentine’s Day?” The answer was not all that surprising. People want gifts, especially chocolate and flowers, and romantic gestures and experiences with their loved ones. The top selling items for Valentine’s Day are greeting cards (Valentines) flowers, and those heart-shaped boxes of chocolates that never seem to go out of style. Of course, some people want jewelry and a big date night or a fancy trip, but most people seem to enjoy a low-key celebration. Overwhelmingly, what people really want for Valentine’s Day is to know that they are loved.
During the years I worked as the manager of an independent living retirement community, the most difficult holiday for most of our seniors was Valentine’s Day. Many of them were widows or widowers and the day brought back a flood of memories of their true loves. And, unlike the Christmas holidays where people received many visits from family members, Valentine’s Day wasn’t a big day for visitors.
The first year I worked in the community, one of our ladies carried a framed 8 x 10 photo of her deceased husband around with her all day on Valentine’s Day and showed his picture to anyone who showed an interest. After that, we tried to always have fun activities and events planned for Valentine’s Day so that no one had to feel lonely or alone.
Speaking of Valentine’s Day activities, today I had the great fun of attending my four-year-old grandson’s preschool Valentine party. The school parties haven’t changed so much over the years. The kids all brought Valentine’s to pass out to their classmates, they did a fun craft, played a Valentine game, had a heart-shaped sugar cookie for their snack and I had the honor of reading my book, “Love Hearts” for the children and their parents.
As some of you already know, “Love hearts are small bits of love that escape from our hearts and go through our eyes to someone else. Love hearts mean that someone loves you and really likes to be with you.”
No matter how you plan to spend this Valentine’s Day 2025, I hope you experience lots of love hearts and maybe some yummy chocolate too!