That Four Letter Word, February 14th

My favorite four letter word is love… although you might not be able to tell based on how I can artfully sprinkle the f-word into sentences like it’s parsley raining down on some fancy chicken parm. I grew up always being told that I was loved by my parents, especially before bed. Love was a big deal. Love was a warm hug or clapping for me during my stellar 6th grade performance in the school play Alice in Wonderland. I was The Griffon. Yes, folks– two whole speaking lines and a very hot, uncomfortable costume!

So I found it astonishing back then that my Dad made the odd choice to opt out of corny but fun Valentine’s Day traditions by claiming that it was “a pagan holiday celebrating St. Valentine” and since we were Jewish, the holiday didn’t apply to him, and therefore my Mother was exempt. Years later, my generous starter husband, offended that my birthday fell around the dreaded pagan holiday, would use the excuse that flowers were still overpriced to avoid buying me a bouquet of any size. Jeez. The gals in my family certainly got the short end of the botanical stick, right? (My Dad made up for this when I was an adult by sending me gorgeous flowers on Mother’s Day! I guess the pagan rule didn’t apply.)

In my 30s I had a long distance relationship and we couldn’t be together one February 14th. So Long Distance took the loving step of having flowers delivered to my office that he must have selected from a catalog. To be different and stand out, instead of choosing a bouquet of traditional red roses he sent me an arrangement that can only be described as “Medusa’s Garden.” As this enormous, menacing herbaceousness of slimy stems sat on my desk, I was literally afraid. Memories of Little Shop of Horrors flooded back! And no of course I never told him. I thanked him for his thoughtfulness and kept the Audrey Two in the community kitchen until housekeeping tossed the wilty wiskered menace out.

My beau Michael is wonderful for so many reasons and he loves to surprise me often with flowers for no specific occasion. He even tends to them days after they are placed in water by trimming the stems, changing the water, giving them food, and rearranging the bouquet. Obviously yours truly has little to no training in botanical minding due to my very limited floral heritage so I let him do his thing. Who knew having an indoor green thumb could be so labor intensive?!

I used to go bananas for my young son around Valentine’s Day– decorating his bedroom door with red stickers and cards and using Hershey’s Kisses to form a huge heart on his bed. I thought it was fun! I know that Valentine’s Day is a Hallmark Holiday– I get it. I also know that love has nothing to do with chocolates or fancy dinners or even flowers, although I do like all three.