The Big E – Embracing St. Valentine

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84 – February, 2024

By Elaine Lessig

Have you ever noticed how the end of the year sneaks up on the beginning of the next year? One minute you are cooking a big, fat, delicious turkey with all the trimmings. Then the very next day, there you are starting a shopping frenzy in both the stores and online. At the same time, there are countless holiday decisions and festivities to attend to with immediacy. When all the holiday frenzy ends, it’s clean-up time. All the seasonal displays, exchanges, and extra pounds need to go away. The final hurdle is New Year’s Eve then New Year’s Day. What should we do? There are at least two different ways to think about it. Are we ready to go out to celebrate, or too exhausted to deal with any of it?

Boom! We check the calendar in January only to note that, lo and behold, Valentine’s Day is a short six weeks away. Where did the time go? Valentine’s Day is definitely a holiday fraught with pitfalls. If you are single, in a long-time relationship, or legally married, there are no easy answers for what to do and how to do it. Are beautiful bouquets sent home or delivered to the work place? Is that large box of top-shelf chocolates in a heart-shaped box a great choice? Should a reservation be made for an expensive, romantic restaurant? Perhaps, an important piece of jewelry is just the thing.

Why does so much pressure accompany this holiday more than that of any other? Could the reason be that Valentine’s Day is THE day of the year which speaks exclusively to love? How did this day really evolve? Can we attribute it to Shakespeare’s play, “Romeo and Juliet”? Can we look toward Cupid for the answer? Is Casanova, the notorious Italian womanizer, or the Spanish libertine, Don Juan, to blame? Perhaps it is Lord Byron–an English romantic poet who wrote frequently on the subject–who is the one to blame.

Click here to read the complete article
84 – February, 2024

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