By G. E.
Shuman
The celebration of, or lack of
celebration of special days like Valentine’s Day is a strange thing, at least
it is to me. If you have followed this column over the years, you know already that
I truly do love my dear wife, Lorna. After over fifty years of marriage, we are
still in love and are still having fun together. For this and many other things
about my life I am truly thankful. God is so good.
It is not for a lack of love or
caring, but there does seem to be an ebb and flow to things like celebrating Valentine’s
Day. I mean, I no longer buy heart shaped boxes of chocolates for my wife, (since
she confided in me years ago that she’s not that fond of boxed chocolates)
and/or flowers, (since she also told me, years ago, that cut flowers are a
waste of money because they die too
quickly.) Oh well.
Celebrating any holiday simply by a
repetition of things done at that same time every year is what seems like waste
to me. I especially feel this way about the ‘big’ holidays, and really
especially about Christmas. I once proposed to my family that we skip
Christmas, or at least only do the tree and presents part every other year.
This idea was not met with much enthusiasm.
For times like February 14th,
it seems that Lorna and I have settled into a very comfortable, but not boring
place in our very comfortable old home. The day will come, and then it will go,
perhaps with tokens of our love for each other, but definitely with the calm
knowledge that much love is still here and is actually stronger than on the day
we said “I do” all those years ago. We may go out to dinner that night, or
simply snuggle in for a quiet evening of favorite movies and snacks. There is a
lot to be said for the peace, quiet, and honesty of such times shared with the
one you love most. What a wonderful wife, and wonderful life I have!
And the tokens of love may not be all
that original this year, after all, since my wife just reminded me today that
she DOES love ‘dark’ chocolate… and roses.
It is my hope that you have a special
someone to share the cold February nights with and the love that will make
those evenings priceless, as do I. If those times have passed for you, simply remembering them is also a wonderful thing.
Happy Valentine’s Day Lorna!
With all my love, forever!
George
“Grow old along with me. The best is
yet to be!”
No comments:
Post a Comment