Love

Love. 

Seeing as it's Valentine's Day, we're surrounded by the word. We're thrown candy and flowers and cards and pink, and told that it's the proper way to celebrate Valentine's Day. That if we don't have a boyfriend, then there's no point in celebrating Valentine's Day.

That could not be more wrong. 

Valentine's Day is a day full of love. That's it. Love, plain and simple. When you're little, it's a day to wear lots of pink and eat lots of sugar and give your friends cards. When you get older, it becomes a day to eat chocolate, watch chick flicks, and wish you'd thought three weeks ago to make cards. When you get even older, it's a day to pick out a special card for your spouse. No matter which phase you're in, it's a day of love. It can be romantic love. But it sure as heck doesn't have to be.

I've always personally loved Valentine's Day. A day full of pink and sugar- what could be better? The past couple of years, I haven't celebrated quite as much as I did when I was younger, which is natural. This January, however, I decided that I was going to up my Valentine's Day celebration a bit. I'm going to be spending my Valentine's Day at a theater, preparing for our middle school show. I'll be at the theater from 9-6, which doesn't exactly leave a ton of time for anything, but I decided that I was going to go a bit crazy this year nonetheless.

Over the past several weeks, I've been working on making roughly 50 valentines- for all of the kids in our cast, for crew members, for friends both local and faraway, and for family members. It's been crazy, but it's been a lot of fun.

Because honestly? I think that Valentine's Day rocks. 

Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate love. To show people in your life how much you love and appreciate them. What could be better than that? I've had so much fun working to put together gifts and cards for people. See, Valentine's Day isn't a holiday like Christmas, where everyone feels like they have to have presents ready. A lot of people just forget about it. So you have such a fun opportunity to surprise them and make their day. I've been having so much fun making things to give to people that I know they aren't going to expect.

It's also made me think- why don't we do this more often? Why don't we make an effort to randomly make someone's day? That's so silly. Cards, small gifts, candy- they're not super large or expensive things to do. So why don't we do it more often?

I know that life is crazy. I feel you. But why not take a couple of minutes to do something that will make someone else happy? 

Love people. Love them hard. Show the people around you just how much you care about them. Even if you haven't planned anything for today, leave a couple of pieces of chocolate lying around. Write a friend a quick note. Pick up an extra coffee on your way to work to give to somebody. Call up a friend and see if they want to meet up for dinner. Spread a little bit of love. And don't let it end once today is over. My challenge to you is to work on showing the people around you how much you love them 365 days a year. It will make you all happier, I promise. 

Happy Valentine's Day, sweet friends. I love you all. ♥