My "Take" on Valentine's Day

Although Valentine's Day caters to lovey-dovey couples, females who hope a Valentine will miraculously show up on their doorstep, and men who feel compelled by societal and relationship pressures to purchase posies, buy candy and jewelry, and arrange reservations for candlelight dinners, Valentine's Day also carries a lot of emotional baggage for many folks who wish this day would skydive over the edge of the Earth and disappear. 

"I hate Valentine's Day" becomes a mantra for many of these individuals.  Their glares and disparaging comments seem to hint at past pain from previous relationships, or loneliness and despondency brought on by the incessant barrage of sappy commercials advertising Valentine specials.  I can certainly understand their pain.  A few ruckus-raising rebels always delight in proclaiming loudly they don't need a significant other in their lives, and that Valentine's Day is of no significance to them, one way or another. Certainly, we've discovered that we don't have to have someone in our lives to complete us.  We are all unique, wonderful individuals, who hopefully, love ourselves.

If Valentine's Day, however, does create an aura of sadness and longing, of pain and weepiness, I have some suggestions to make February 14th better.  I've found a few ways for me to quickly get out of any momentary funk brought on by the holiday.

Rather than go out to couple-infested restaurants that have long wait times and make you feel all the more alone on Valentine's Day, make yourself one of your all-time favorite meals (sea scallops, or porterhouse steak, or spaghetti and meatballs, for me), or kick back, watch a good movie, and call out for pizza delivery.  You're special, so head to the mall and buy yourself something nice (My cats like me to pick out my own gifts from them!).  Treat yourself to a hot fudge/caramel sundae with cashews or a Starbucks' mocha.  Do your nails with a new, Spring color (I'm partial to Razzle-Dazzle myself, right now).

Call a friend and play some old-school video games together.  Take yourself to one of your favorite places (visit Franklin Park Conservatory, go bowling, listen to good music at a piano lounge, paint your heart out at the art class at Hobby Lobby, for example).

I love to send out silly, inexpensive, unexpected Valentine cards to family and friends' pets, or to children, or to other single adults to make people smile.  What about hosting an informal wine-tasting for a few friends, or a fun-filled, entertaining game night with board and card games? I've been known to host a 3-D party, featuring the classic "Creature from the Black Lagoon."  

I also think volunteering gives far more than anyone expects --  not only do you help others, but you're also helping your community as well as yourself.  Food pantries, hospitals, libraries, schools, and community organizations would love having you help with activities.

Whatever you decide to do on this Valentine's Day, smile.  Not only will you feel like the sun is shining wherever you are, but everyone with whom you come into contact will be able to bask in your sunshine, and perhaps make a little sunshine themselves. 

Broken "Cords"

Cords, cords, and more cords everywhere!  I don’t know about you, but this is the wireless age when cords tangle with one another in the dark recesses in my kitchen, dangle from a basket on the computer desk, crouch in the cupboards, linger on dressers, and loiter in their favorite lair – the hall closet. 

What are all these cords?  Where do they belong?  Are all these cords recklessly reproducing in wild abandon on slow, rainy afternoons in my house?  There’s certainly a multitude of them.

How many cords can there be?  Cords for cell phone chargers, car chargers, GPS hookups, computer cords of all types from DVI video cards to 3.5 mm. audio cords as well as laptop ones, video game hookups, tv HDMI cables, digital camera cords, USB cords for an unearthly number of products, including their cousins, the micro USB cords, cords for MP3 players, VGA  cords, rechargeable battery cords, and  adapters for multiple products, to name a few, abound.  In addition, old cords, like the red, white, and yellow AV cables and land line phone cords pushed out of the picture by newer models, still congregate and intermingle with the newer cords in case they may be needed for some unexplainable and futuristic reason.  At least, the extension cords have been forced to hang in the jungle of garage storage rather than inside the house.

Cord separation occurs soon after the cord arrival into a household.  At first, the separation is gentle, and each cord is placed nearby on a table or end stand.  Eventually, the cords take up valuable space so additional separation becomes mandatory, leaving the cord alone and forgotten. 

Usually, someone tosses these abandoned cords together in a container with other cords, all left to simmer in the dust that settles upon them.  The poor cords lose their identities.  No one knows what they used to be, nor for what they were intended.  “Does anyone know what this cord belongs to?”  No one in the house ever seems to know the answer to that question. 

 Sadly, someone finally relegates these forlorn cords to the dark, cavernous depths of the hall closet.  Their original purpose in life has long been forgotten.  They are wired, but they live in darkness.  Their only hope is someone will miss them and start searching through the bag in the hall closet before Spring Cleaning time when they are mulched in a garbage truck.  In the meantime, in the inky blackness of the closed closet, they make connections and multiply.  Some then make it back out to dusty corners and baskets to torture me by cluttering and clamoring for attention again.

It’s a cord conspiracy to tangle lives.