Won’t You be Mine Valentine?

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

I remember when I was in elementary school, my teachers allowing students to help put up decorations for each holiday. One of my favorites was Valentine’s Day. My classmate and I at our desk making little cards, at lunch time playing in the school yard talking with my friend talking about who will be each other’s Valentines.

Our teachers were reminding us not to forget to bring our V-day cards the next day and going to the store with my parents to get my classmates Valentine’s day cards. Making sure not to leave anyone out. Just to make sure that I would have just as many Valentines made me feel so special.

As I got into upper grades, the cards got fanciers.Upperman Classmen use Valentine’s Day as a fundraiser selling Ballons, candy and V-Day grams. Wishing to be one of the girls that would get a card, candy and balloon delivery to one of my classes before the end of the day. But it never happens.

A job left to my father to make my mother, sisters and I Valentine’s Day by getting up early and placing a single rose in a vase of water on our nightstands with a card so that it would be the first thing we see when we woke in the morning on Valentine’s Day. My father just like my elementary teachers had made sure that Valentine was a beautiful day to celebrate love.

I think this is why Valentine’s has been a big deal for me. I love love. This is wanting fuel my obsession to have a Valentine once I got older and out of high school. To share my love on Valentines with a man like my dad. Who made sure even when no one else gave me Valentines day cards he would always be Mine Valentine.

History of Valentine’s Day

The holiday’s roots are in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia; a fertility celebration commemorated annually on February 15. Pope Gelasius I recast this pagan festival as a Christian feast day circa 496, declaring February 14 to be St. Valentine’s Day.  It was not until the 14th century that this Christian feast day became definitively associated with love. According to UCLA medieval scholar Henry Ansgar Kelly, author of Chaucer and the Cult of Saint Valentine, it was Chaucer who first linked St. Valentine’s Day with romance.

Over the centuries, the holiday evolved, and by the 18th century, gift-giving and exchanging handmade cards on Valentine’s Day had become common in England.

Hand-made valentine cards made of lace, ribbons, and featuring cupids and hearts eventually spread to the American colonies. The tradition of Valentine’s cards did not become widespread in the United States, however, until the 1850s, when Esther A. Howland, a Mount Holyoke graduate and native of Worcester, Mass., began mass-producing them. Today, of course, the holiday has become a booming commercial success. According to the Greeting Card Association, 25% of all cards sent each year are valentines.

Big Deal Valentines

I’m not going to lie, but I love Valentine’s. I love seeing the pink, white, and red colors that we associate with Valentine’s. I love when I’m in a relationship, and I can make the day special with them. I love to give gifts to my husband, and I especially love getting gifts in return. I make Valentines a big deal because love is a problem. Its not just about the gifts. To me, Valentine’s is about Love.

Love is patient and Kind. Love is to celebrate. It’s to be cherished, and if you don’t have a person to share your love for this year, it will be okay.  Sometimes you have to be bold and make the Day special by being your own Valentine. Who said you can’t order roses and chocolate for yourself with a card that reads

Happy Valentines Queens!