Holiday means spring is near

I heard a bird singing as I was shoveling snow last week. Several of the winged creatures have staked out their territory in the local big box store and have been busy startling the customers. An old legend says that if a woman sees a robin on Valentine’s Day she will marry a sailor. The source didn’t specify that the woman was single, so that makes me wonder about the person who started that legend.
Valentine’s Day is in a few days. I don’t usually do a lot to celebrate, although I have bought a suitable card for each of the grandchildren and my mother. I even picked up a small box of chocolates for the doctor who is expected to release my mother from his care on that day. A box of chocolates is a small price to pay for saving her toes.
Approximately 150 million valentines are exchanged every year. A good portion of those are stuffed into those handmade boxes similar to the ones we all decorated in elementary school. I always loved the days leading up to the holiday. We would make hearts out of everything. All that cutting, pasting and coloring was great fun.
Children still make valentines, although most of the rest of us opt for a store bought card and maybe some candy or a trinket to go along with it.
Did you know that it was on Valentine’s Day in 1876 that Alexander Graham Bell applied for a patent for the telephone? I find that very fitting as the telephone, in all its many incarnations, helps us express our love for one another as often as we choose. It brings joy to my heart when I hear a loved one’s voice calling from far away.
It would bring even more joy to my heart if it was the drug store calling to tell me that they have found my pictures, but that is another story.
Valentine’s Day falls between two other important days in February, Lincoln’s birthday on the 12th and Washington’s birthday on the 22nd. These two presidents used to have their own celebrations, but now they are lumped in with the 43 other guys who have presided over our country. This year Presidents’ Day is February 17. Maybe I will live long enough to see a woman added to that elite list.
Our family has a plethora of birthdays in this longest month of the year. Me, two nephews, a sister-in-law, one brother, my cousin’s son and my grandmother all were born in this frigid part of the winter. My brother-in-law missed being born in February by only one day. We celebrate all the birthdays at the end of the month as it is far too cold and the weather too unpredictable to get together before then.
Back to Valentine’s Day. In addition to being a day dedicated to love, it is the exact middle of the month. That means that not only are we done with January, we are halfway through February! The end of this long, cold winter is in sight. Only two more weeks and it will be March. If that isn’t cause to celebrate, then I don’t know what is. Of course, the way our weather has been lately, all the leprechauns will have to be fitted with snowsuits and tiny skis because it will take at least until the end of March for all the snow to melt.
The appearance of birds inside stores and valentines sprinkled throughout the aisles gives me hope that we have finally reached a turning point in this never-ending winter. I am hopeful that the worst is over and we only have to endure a few more weeks of nasty weather before the first green leaves of crocuses and snowdrops push through the frozen ground. Shortly after that we can begin complaining about the heat. But for now, I have more snow to shovel.[[In-content Ad]]