It's Valentine's Day; Go for it!

Valentine’s Day is a perfect “holiday” for the middle of February. We can barely remember the Christmas Holidays and it’s too soon for winter to be really over. Romance is simply a great way to stay warm. Although you can choose to bury your feelings at any time, happily, you’re never too old to be romantic.

If you’re fortunate enough to be involved in a relationship, whether it’s budding like the spring roses we’re dreaming about or, mature like the fully flowering, tall magnolia trees we have in the South, celebrate Valentine’s Day with your partner. Yes, we’ve had to compromise, cajole, and capitulate from time to time. As have our partners. Today is a day to put all that aside.  

Valentine’s Day is the perfect moment to rewind the tape. Do you remember the moment you knew this person was different from all the others, so special you could barely catch your breath? “You fly down a street on the chance that you meet, and you meet -- not really by chance.”

Recall the moment when you realized your feelings were mutual. No words, no song, no kaleidoscope filled with glorious colors can match that feeling. Yes, and there was the excitement and the worry about meeting your partner’s friends. What if they said you weren’t good enough? Then you met your partner’s family with bone chilling fear, praying they wouldn’t vote you off the island, to use today’s idiom.  

Think back to the day you asked for her hand in marriage. Or, you waited by the window, hoping to see him coming up the walk with a tiny box in his hand that simply had to be the ring, the thing that would seal the deal. You looked deeply into each other's eyes that day, nervously searching for signs of doubt, yet confident that your heart, filled with love, would overcome all. This is the one. There will never be someone better.  

Ah, the wedding, the sacred ceremony, the promises…to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death do us part. And the celebration afterwards; Oh what a night! Champagne toasts, an embroidered lace wedding cake, and rice for good luck and abundance. Now, when was the last time you looked at the photos you so patiently posed for, gowned and tuxedoed? Never mind you aren’t so young anymore. Never mind you misplaced them; never mind you feel silly. It’s Valentine’s Day. Do it.

In the early years, celebrating Valentine’s Day was fun. You enjoyed each other’s company, you were building something together; starting a family (how many families got started on February 14^th, I wonder?) Dinner dates, boxes of candy, flowers, a snazzy necktie and always, an extravagant card to remind you of the magic you felt whenever your partner came into view.

Time passes and the years fly by. Kids grow up; you cherish victories together and yes, bear defeats, unimaginable when you were young. You worry about your health, money, careers that end before they’re over. Sadly, some of us turn inward rather than facing the oncoming storms together. Worse, you forget there are joys yet to unfold.

What kept you together all these years? Look closely and it isn’t hard to see the roots, deep, strong, entwined and seemingly unbreakable. Valentine’s Day may not cure what ails us. But, if you woke up this morning with someone who rocked your world once upon a time, maybe it’s time to wake up and make the most of every moment you have together. Maybe you haven’t exchanged a Valentine’s Day card for years, having convinced yourself, and each other, that it isn’t worth the time or expense. That it’s nothing more than a marketers hustle. Did you think that way on your first Valentine’s Day together?

Whether you’re in May or the September of your years, realize that time has a way of slipping by. As the song says, when the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame, you haven’t got time for the waiting game. It’s Valentine’s Day. Celebrate the day together. Say I love you to the one who matters most. And if per chance you’re alone this year, revel in a sweet memory. While you’re at it though, do keep your eyes open for the chance that you meet…a new valentine of your own.

 

  

 

Why Time Moves Faster Than It Used To

As I get older I get the feeling that time is moving by much faster than it did when I was younger. As a child for example, I always thought that the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas morning was the equivalent of the entire time I had been alive up to that point. And Christmas Eve was always the longest night of the year!
Remember when summer lasted forever? Nowadays summer feels like a long weekend. The time between Memorial Day and Labor Day, once a sweet eternity, is now a madcap rush, not unlike the feeling one gets while racing down the freeway to the airport. With one eye on the road the other looking for state troopers, your hope fades that you will ever make the last flight home on a Friday evening. And so it is with summer. Why does time seem to go by so much faster now? Some say it’s because we are much busier than our ancestors ever were. No doubt farmers living in the pre-industrial age, tilling their fields with a horse drawn plow had loads of time to spare. Imagine how much time housewives had on their hands in the days before dishwashers, washing machines, dryers and microwaves. Yeah, leisurely lives they led. They had it made.
There are some theories floating in cyberspace about the likelihood that time is actually speeding up. One theory suggests that something called the Schumann Resonance or heartbeat of Earth used to be 7.83 cycles per second. Apparently it’s been rising since 1980. It is now over 12 cycles per second, leaving us with the equivalent of about 16 hours per day instead of 24. Note to theorists: The missing 8 hours might be the ones that occur while you’re sleeping which would make them hard to track. The more I dig into the “Schumann Resonance” though, the more convinced I am that it has merit in at least one respect. A smart candidate for the Presidency could score serious points making 24 hours an issue. Promising to restore time to its original and rightful place in our system of government could win votes, no? Republican candidates can assign blame to the Carter Administration by suggesting that he wasted so much time that time itself started to slip away. A wily Democrat like President Obama could point to The Resonance as what the so-called Reagan revolution was really all about.
But I digress.
The fact is that man came up with the concept of time. It was man who decided that 60 seconds equals a minute and 60 minutes equals an hour. These units still exist and can be measured.
So why do we feel like time is going by faster than it used to? I am pleased to report that yesterday, December 28, 2011, I found the answer. I was shopping in a Target store in Franklin, Tennessee. As I meandered through the aisles, I happened upon a row of Hallmark and other greeting cards six feet high and fifteen feet long. Remember the date, December 28th, still 3 days before New Year’s Eve and just 3 days after Christmas. Now which greeting cards do you think I saw completely dominating the racks? If you said Valentine’s Day cards treat yourself to a Be Mine candy heart. Valentine’s Day is seven weeks away! Yet, by the time it arrives we will have been completely inundated by retail displays, advertisements and junk mail from jewelers reminding us to buy something special for that someone special in our lives. What galls me is that by the time the day arrives, by no later than 6:00 p.m. on the day itself, retailers will be restocking their shelves with St. Patrick’s Day paraphernalia.
No wonder time seems to fly by. Living in the present these days is hard work. We are always being pushed ahead to the next holiday, the next season. Does rushing each holiday really work? Is anyone reading this post ready to forget the Christmas or Hanukkah holidays? It occurs to me that I’m asking a foolish question since the business version of the Christmas season now lasts so long that one is tempted to not bother taking down the tree at all. Still are you actually ready to focus on Valentine’s Day? If you have already bought your Valentine’s Day cards, have you also mailed them? Please let me know. And while you’re at it, send me your menu for the 4th of July barbecue.

Copyright 2011, Len Serafino. All rights reserved.