Valentines Advice For All

Valentines Day needs to go back to being a day for grade school kids to trade small snoopy cards with corny, but true sayings like, “Love is a warm puppy.”  For most of us the pressure is too great to have one day where we must declare our love for our sweetie in the grandest form, or even worse for those without a one special someone it makes you feel even more alone.

No “holiday,” especially a Hallmark one, should make people feel badly, yet those in love have every right to celebrate.  But really if you have someone in your life who makes the sun shine brighter, the wind feel less cold and a peach taste sweeter you don’t need a declarative day to celebrate how blessed you are.

For anyone for whom this day makes you want to stay under the covers I have a few bits of advice:

1. Loving yourself is most important.  If you don’t like you it makes it hard to recognize when others love you.
2. Friends of the same gender are as important as a sweet heart.
3. Don’t concentrate your efforts on one person who does not appear to know you are alive. 
4. Real people are not like celebrities and don’t walk around as airbrushed as movies stars, so stop looking for someone who might show up on Entertainment Tonight.
5. If you are looking at someone who is not looking at you, turn around and look at who might be looking at you.
6. More importantly, listen to what others are saying and stop listening with your eyes.  The right person for you might not make a swimsuit issue.
7. Life is long and when you do find someone you want to love him or her forever.  Looks will fade, but funny lasts forever.
8. Everyone needs someone who will hold his or her hand in public at every age.  If you find that you have found gold.
9. A dog will always love you.

For those who have a sweetheart I have this advice for you:

1. Love yourself first; it makes it easier for others to love you.
2. Friends of the same gender are as important as a sweet heart.
3. Ignore people who don’t know you are alive.
4. Don’t worry about your wrinkles; if you ever are on Entertainment Tonight they can airbrush them.
5. Don’t turn around to see who is looking at you it will just cause trouble.
6. Listen to your sweetheart and don’t ask them how you look in your swimsuit.
7. Laugh at your darling’s jokes, even if they are not funny.
8. Hold hands, everywhere at every age.
9. Your dog will always love you.