In elementary school, we decorated shoeboxes lined with paper lace doilies to hold the Valentines we exchanged. Each of us received one from every classmate.
In higher grades, we only received cards from the classmates who wished to send them to us, so some got more than others. Tensions built. Sometimes there were unsigned mystery cards pledging sentiment from individuals we tried to identify but couldn’t always.
Every four years, Leap Year made things interesting because girls could initiate—and sometimes did. (I’m amazed how brazen some females are in pursuit.) It also adds one day every four years. Do those born on that day stay younger than the rest of us? My friend, Kathy, has children the same age as mine, yet only turns 17 or 18 this year. She has found the Fountain of Youth.
In the South, Leap Year gave rise to Sadie Hawkins Day which cartoonist Al Capp introduced in his L’il Abner stories about the residents of Dog Patch, USA.
If you have a special Valentine in your life, wonderful. Enjoy.
If not, here are easy ways to make ordinary days great. God-given friendships deliver kindness any time. Author Patricia Bradley, my busy neighbor up the street in Mississippi, took time from her schedule to stop in and set up a halo light so I could do well teaching a 2-hour Zoom writing class last night.
Last August when author Liana George’s husband came to Minnesota to join friends at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, she came along and spent several days at our small farm. I loved introducing her to my Amish friends and other fabulous people in my world. Thanks for coming!
Author Hope Toler Dougherty said if I visit my sister in North Carolina, to let her know. Making connections and schedules work didn’t seem likely, yet when I told her it looks like a trip is happening, she committed to drive 116 miles one way for a visit. My heart warmed more than the fanciest ribbon-decorated lacy Valentine ever received.
Thoughtfulness makes any ordinary day special. When we look for ways, we find them.
Pay it forward to someone in the Starbucks drive-through line. Anonymously drop a gift card to someone. Giftwrap “a happy” for no reason for no special occasion. Drive someone to a meeting instead of going separately to double your fellowship time. When I stepped aside in a grocery story line to give up my place to a woman who’d forgotten items and gone back so she could pay and join her husband who’d finished, they bought my groceries and wouldn’t let me refuse. I’m still shaking my head over that. Such memories last.
Valentine’s Day is sweet each February 14th. Let’s multiply it through kindnesses any day—without waiting for Leap Year.
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