All About Love - Happy Valentines Day - Day 14

    Happy Valentine's Day!

I wonder how you will spend the day, today?

With your loved one, or sad and alone and miserable, avoiding the restaurants with their table for 2 deals and the shops with all the stuff?

For years, I have avoided the day - and sometimes I have adopted or rather adapted my thinking on the day. Let me explain. When I was volunteering for a large International charity full time, I lived around a lot of Americans, who celebrated Valentines Day in a rather different way to how I knew it: they would give out valentines cards and even small gifts given to classmates, children, friends, as well as to their loved ones - saying how much they are appreciated. I have to say, at first I thought the idea was a bit wierd, actually it really did freak me out - having grown up in a British culture of Valentines day only being about the Romantic, sexual, I fancy you, the notion of the will you be mine/you are mine kind of way, being THE way to celebrate Valenbtines Day. It's is ingraned in me. Our culture. Valentines Day is about being with someone. Being a singleton, that day has therefore been a bit of a miserable one. The hide under the duvet kind of day, at times. However, being around another cultural way of celebrating broadened my horizons, lessened my small island mind and helped me think out of the box - the chocolate box, at least.
Being a creative and a friendly person, I faced a choice: either hate valentines day until I may or may not meet the man of my dreams, or do it a different way. After all, I can always celebrate it in the traditional Bristish way as well, if I do meet a guy, can't I? Why be miserable all this time and every year? Birthdays and Christmas are hard, holiday times arent easy, family celbrations and weddings can be awkward, so shy add this day to the list of nightmare timebomb days? It's time to live and sieze the day.Time to live and love and laugh.
Adopting, or adapting to another culture, embracing the new and all that. Some years I have had a group of friends round for a meal and decorated the table and given out chocolates. This year, PJ and I have decorated some wee heart shaped boxes with tissue paper and paint which she is going to give to her teachers at nursery. I also have some love heart sweets and red hershey kisses and some red heart shaped Lindt chocolates to give out to some people we meet today - maybe as part of the Random Acts of Kindness. A chance to spread some love and develop PJ's sense of generosity and develop her skills in making friends and appreciating the ones she has. Helping her to realise the friends she has and the happy times she feels, will help her social and emotional development as well as being fun for us both.    Happy Valentines Day! Add your All About post to the blog hop too if you wish - spread some love to those you appreciate - or some random people you don't yet know if you are brave enough. Enjoy today!