Valentine's Day 2011

The art work of my beloved friend Laurel Gaylord (lo)

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Click to enlarge. It's worth it.

This is a poem by Mary Tall Mountain. I offer it to you on this Valentine's Day because I have a feeling it will soothe your heart, as it does mine, whatever your circumstance.

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I was 15 when I received my first serious valentine.

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It was a beautiful card with roses and pastel colors on the outside and a question written in beautiful cursive letters: A valentine question to the one I love, it said.

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I opened the card and there, attached by a little half inch spring, was a jumpy gorilla, asking Wanna Wrestle?

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I kept that card from my boyfriend for years afterwards. In college, when I had no boyfriend and valentine days came and went, I would remember what it felt like to be part of the couples valentine crowd. It was important to me at the time, not having, not getting a valentine.

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I did not re-enter that exclusive club until my senior year in college, when I met my ex-husband and gratefully rejoiced in the fact that he was a college graduate and he was handsome.

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I learned later that there was more substance required of a good relationship than that.

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And I learned later still that valentines come in different ways from different people and from different kinds of love.

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I've received four valentine cards this year. I sent out seven of my own. I know what a valentine means to me because I've stepped away from the commercialization of love and stepped into my own authentic version. Thankfully.

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And this poem by Mary Tall Mountain?

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'We never leave eachother.

When does your mouth

say goodbye to your heart?'

Happy Valentine's Day Dad. Willa. Renee. Anne. Chris. Baby Boy. Even you with the barbed words.

love

kj