Three small words…eight small letters….normally charged with infinite meaning and normally associated with some form of intimacy.  Our hearts jump with joy when we hear “I love you” and we readily roll the phrase off our tongues like honey when we want someone, other than ourselves, to take the trash out!  

Everywhere we turn there are retailers & merchants putting forth their best effort to guilt shoppers into proving their love with heart shaped images of everything imaginable in the colors of red and pink!  If we’ve been on hiatus in the love department – have no fear – we can now play catch-up and prove our love worthiness via a multitude of options.  Most of these options are materialistic of course and all leaning in favor of taking money out of our wallet and placing it in someone else’s!  Quite frankly, a few of us haven’t recovered from Christmas, which was only 6 weeks and 20 days ago and now the IRS is knocking on our door!  

On Valentine’s Day everything seems repetitious.  Everywhere we see the same colors, the same cards, the same balloons, the same cookies, the same candies.  On February 14^th we must declare love or else we’re branded a smuck, a thoughtless no good scoundrel, a cheapo or something worse.  Chances are that if we over look presenting a gift on the day officially designated as the day to be in love, then we are in more trouble than we can ever get out of and we aren’t going to be getting any – of anything – for a while.  

But how can it possibly be our special day of love when it feels so manufactured?   Like robots queuing up with flowers in hand and intimate underwear that say “I Love U” and “You’re Mine” we prepare for a celebration that doesn’t quite amp up the true value of love and leaves us feeling like we’ve been run over by a train.

Let’s propose a new thought.  Valentine’s Day is not intimate! Valentine’s Day is a paranormal activity imposed upon the world at large like a giant “Prove You Love Me Party” with no exceptions.  It can be a difficult day for men and women alike with its heart-shaped landmines.   We don’t need Valentine’s Day to prove our love.  Our love is proven everyday in many ways that have nothing to do with spending and everything to do with giving of ourself.  A plastic heart cannot compete with the gift of a smile or an encouraging word.  The gift of time and listening with rapt attention does not wear pink or red.  When we love our loved one(s) as we would love ourselves we have touched the beautiful face of intimacy and as Mastercard would say – PRICELESS!