Love is a many splendored thing!

Today is Valentine’s Day and the muse is tapping at my shoulder and heart.

I am so happy that she is back.

I have Nat King Cole’s version of “Love is a many splendored thing!” playing on repeat on Spotify!

I kid you not…Spotify and I are now friends. 

I am wearing red and white in honour of the celebration of Love. 

In town I saw a few others sporting various versions of Valentine’s attire. 

Not many, I admit, but there were some.

Two friends met for tea – one wore a red dress with white polka dots and her companion was chic in a red striped outfit.

At my favourite charity shop (Hermanus Hospice Shop), the volunteer who helped me with my goodies quipped that she doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, because she is:” Bitter and twisted”.

Her energy says exactly the opposite… she seems to be filled with light, love and humour.

It reminded me of how I felt after my divorce when my heart was broken and I, too, felt “bitter and twisted” – disillusioned by the concept of romantic love…especially the forever kind.

Besides being very irritated by the commercialization of Love, the emphasis on romantic love seemed so unfair to me.

I mean we don’t all have a significant other in human or other form when the day rolls by.

Being me, I decided one year to send Valentine’s wishes to all my friends and acquaintances. I chose an Afrikaans poem: Die berggans het ‘n veer laat val” written by Boerneef.

Die berggans het ’n veer laat val
van die hoogste krans by Woeperdal
my hart staan tuit al meer en meer
ek stuur vir jou die berggansveer
mits dese wil ek vir jou sê
hoe diep my liefde vir jou lê

I got a mixed reaction.

Some loved it – it is a beautiful poem!

Others were bewildered and probably wondered whether there was something afoot with my sexual orientation…

It had just dawned on me that Love is everywhere, if we have eyes to see. 

In fact, today I would go as far as to say everything is made of Love.

It is the true fabric our world is made of.

Life is Love.

And Self-Love is the greatest of all. 

No need for external reassurances. 

More and more it seems to me, it’s an inside job – this Love, this Life.

Which doesn’t mean that we can’t show “others” that they are our beloveds and that we appreciate them and are grateful for their presence in our life.

Despite the commercial nonsense, I love celebrating Valentine’s Day and will be romancing the Admiral (my love) tonight. 

We will be watching “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”, enjoying a delicious picnic basket of delightful eats, all dressed up for the occasion. 

You know like Audrey Hepburn and all.

Most of all, though, I will be grateful for the countless ways that Love romances and delights me every single day, every single moment – if I am open to it. 

When I choose to live as the Love I am – the Love we all are.