Sometimes, not often, just every once in a while, which is what makes it special, my husband will bring me home a magazine when he goes to the grocery store. It could be anything.
This week he brought me home Joanna Gaines' Christmas magazine, Magnolia. Even though it was winter and the season had passed. Even though Christmas had passed, I was appreciative because tiny acts of love are the best. I like to read a magazine over my breakfast. Call me old fashioned. Sometimes, about certain things I am good with that. I don't want to play with my phone over breakfast. I like to turn a page and see something beautiful. Though the season had passed, the theme of the magazine was delight. Well, delight could happen any time I thought.
It is a childlike thing, delight. But we can find it at anytime in life. We can find it in the dead of winter. It might seem like it is easier to find in spring, or summer, or the glory gold of autumn but not really.
So I scrolled through and read and then quietly tucked the magazine away and is so often the case forgot about it. I moved back into my day, my routine, and never really sought delight.
Then one night this week Joe texted me in the evening, "Let's do valentines at work."
Delight. Joy. Fun. Foolishness. Childhood. School.
Yes!
What a great idea.
Remember looking over your paper valentines. Counting them. Seeing what people signed. It was one of the best school days of the year. I think I liked it too because there was usually cupcakes.
So all of us are, or any of us that want to are decorating a brown paper bag with our name and hanging out our sacks to collect valentines. The valentines can be anything you like. A candy, a note, a cookie, a red paper heart. You decide and you fill up your co workers bags and receive your own.
Now that is a delightful idea.
And I knew as soon as he said it, that it would be fun. That it would add a bit of joy to that slow cold month. That it would give us something to look forward to.
I also know that it is a tiny silly thing. But that tiny silly things can make a day. They can make the heart sing a little. They can be touching. Like a magazine in the groceries just for you chosen by someone else.
And so we will celebrate this year. Celebrate whenever we can because life deserves small celebrations. Communities need to celebrate their people. We need to celebrate each other.
Love comes in all kinds of forms. Valentines day is not just for romantic love. We can use it to celebrate each other just like we did as children. We can use it to bring back a little delight into our lives.
We can even use it to send someone a little hooked heart or a note telling them how great they are.
It can be delightful if we decide that is what we want it to be.
We can be a valentine just by doing something tiny and kind for someone else.
