All Hearts, No Humbugs!

I follow Grumpy on Twitter

I'm already seeing the Valentine's day Nay-Sayers coming out of the woodwork, so I'm going to try to head them all off at the pass with this post.  You can see an example of what I'm talking about in this picture of The Grumpy Cat at left (reproduced with "permission," i.e. -I got it off his Twitter where I'm a follower that he has not blocked.)

Grumpy and I are soul-mates in most matters, but clearly not regarding holidays.  Holidays are absolutely magical (see previous posts on Christmas and Birthdays), and mandatory celebrations should always ensue.  Any excuse for a party is a good excuse.  I insist that there is value in making Valentine's Day a day of happiness!  Think of it as the Thanksgiving day of Love:  to celebrate anyone you love now or have ever loved in the past regardless of whether or not you have slashed, or wanted to slash, his or her tires, ever. 

"Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all" said a poet I studied in high school and probably college, who was clearly alluding to my fixation on how beautiful Timothy Olyphant is (despite the mysterious fact that said poet wrote this many years before I or gorgeous Timothy were even born.) 

In the words of my 11 year old, "What's to hate about Love?!"  

So, for this Valentine's day, if you think you don't have anyone/anything to love, here is a list created by me, and the aforementioned 11 year old (aka Zoe, @zozobird12, @KidZinger).  It is important to note that we decided that not only is Love for an actual human important to celebrate on this day, but we must not rule out how much we love inanimate objects and rituals, and how much joy they bring:

So we celebrate the following on Valentine's day (choose all that may apply):

• Your mom - she gave you life
• Your dad - he contributed :)
• Your ancestors - the life thing again, but there are also probably some awesome stories there
• Your siblings (even if they beat you up then or now)
• Your friends (follow the Grumpy Cat on Twitter if you don't have any)
• Coffee (duh)
• Happy Hour, aka a reason to make it through the day
• The Internet
• Cats (or dogs if you lean that way, which we don't understand)
• The Grumpy Cat, in particular, (he'll act like he doesn't like it, but don't be fooled)
• A really good hamburger
• Your boss, if you have a job (even if you despise her/him --if you cash their checks); unemployment, and America, if you don't
• Our country, our Constitution and the right to vote (even if you don't now, you could start soon, call me)
• Your co-workers (you could probably start a profitable, award-winning blog with the material they provide, I'm just saying)
• Your smartphone (maybe that's just us)
• The inventor of  (insert something you can't live without here, like indoor-plumbing or electricity or HEB)
• Pandora's comedy channel during rush hour; especially some of those freaking hilarious political comedians 
• Your education (nothing compares...)
• Your mentors (thank them!!!!)
• Taking walks
• Music 
• Jewelry
• Books
• Scrabble
• Social Media
• Photo albums
• Spring
• Flowers
• Think about it and insert anything you love here....

And finally, your kids, with their very own special parameters of Love: 

• Even if their infant cries are currently keeping you up at night to the point of hallucination
• Even if they ran away from you at the mall the other day and you almost had to report them to the police as a missing tolddler
• Even if they sob like you are abandoning them in the desert when you are in fact only dropping them at a prohibitively expensive day care center so you can work like a dog all day, the ungrateful little wretches....
• Even if they just looked at you with the full-fledged parent-withering contempt that only a teenager can muster up (obviously because they have the energy, I mean all they do is daydream and doze in class all day instead of working themselves to the bone to pay the bills and make this life possible, the complete wretches)
• Even if they just went off to college and didn't look back, not once, and you are pissed off and proud all at the same time
• Even if they are no longer with you, but they were, and you remember, and it was amazing if only for a while
• Pause, Reflect, Appreciate

In closing, we, and Bramble (the rabbit) and Atlas (the cat) thought you should click here to read the historical, but somewhat insignificant, history of St Valentines as well.  This stuff is almost as good as the life and times Lord Alfred Tennyson, the poet, and your ancestors.

Hearts and Love