A Thought on Valentine's Day

As someone who loves love (as a friend), I've always had a good relationship with Valentine's Day. Bigger holidays like this are hard for a lot of people though because they put a microscope over your life and make you examine the part of your life the holiday is focusing on. Which in this case, of course, is love.

Honestly, Christmas is the hardest one for me - the holiday that makes me feel the most lonely and most critical of my life. But Valentine's Day doesn't make me lonely because while I might not have the life I thought I'd have at this point, I do have plenty of love.

Yesterday I took part in a medical survey for the county I live in. The woman giving the survey asked questions about every aspect of my health - physical, mental, emotional. She asked very personal questions and for the most part showed no reaction to any of my answers, but just moved swiftly to the next question.

But when we got to one question, she softened for a just a couple seconds. The question was:

How often do you get the emotional support you need?

Always
Sometimes
Neutral
Rarely
Never

I thought about it for a second and I pictured my family, my friends, and my church group, then I answered "Always." She said in a sincere voice, "That's really nice."

And it is nice - I'm very lucky.

But before you think I'm being too mushy, I don't only love humans and God and stuff like that. I also love these gifs:

(My love life)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Little Valentines

I love Valentine's Day - as I've said before, I think it's the burst of red in the bleak winter that makes me love it so much. I've been making some Valentines crafts for the young women I work with at church, and per the request of a commenter on a previous post, I thought I'd share some of the little things I've been making.

I think basically all of these are ideas I got from Pinterest - so don't even bother calling me creative. I mean, unless you insist. Oh, and most of them involve googly eyes, of course.

1. Supplies: one inch punch, one inch googly eyes, card stock, sharpie, colored paper, glue, and scissors: 

outside

inside

another inside option

2. "Love Bugs" - I sold a bunch of these at the farmers market on Saturday to girls between the ages of 6 and 12. They were CRAZY for them. A huge hit with the little kid crowd. And me. I love them - they are just cheerful!

Supplies: yarn to make into pom poms, googly eyes, pipe cleaners, heart stickers (JoAnns), hot glue.

Just be careful because puppies love them too.....

Then this happens:

And that's no good! Make extra love bugs just in case this happens. No one should be this sad on Valentine's Day.

3. Arrows and ribbons - these are easy! Supplies: sticks (JoAnns in the wood supplies section), hot glue, paper, scissors, washi tape, cupcake liners. (I just realized I'm really not telling you how to do it - but that's because you're smart and I know you can figure it out!)

Oh, and you can't forget cookies - sugar is the thing that makes you forget you're alone on Valentine's Day.

So there you go. I hope that helps you out this week. Just whatever you do, don't sign your Valentine cards with the word "from."

Love,
Elizabeth