I had no intention of writing anything for Valentine’s Day this year until something weird and wonderful happened:

We have just moved to a lifestyle village (not as grand as it sounds – it is an old one!) where there are communal spaces like a shared washing line area.

For some reason the managers of our complex within the greater estate believe in security!  The washing lines have walls around them with nasty metal spikes on them and the area is padlocked. 

 You need a key to hang up your washing, people! A key!

On Monday I went to hang up our washed bedding and had a good old natter with a woman (a stranger) as she hung up her laundry. She was soon done; we greeted one another, and she left.

When I reached the gate, I got a horrible surprise – the gate was locked! Not with the padlock, but with the sliding bolt. She must have closed it by accident when she left.

I felt furious.  I tried to stick my fingers through the slats of the gate to attempt to slide the bolt open to no avail. I tried until my finger was grazed. Like a captive chimpanzee I searched the enclosure for an instrument – any tool I could use to free myself.  I paced that cage and shook the bars and constantly felt like bursting into tears of frustration.

I considered shouting for help. Then decided to wait. Surely my husband would come to look for me when it was time to leave for gym?  I sat with my back to the wall in the sun feeling a very slight and distant giggle gurgling in me somewhere. I told myself to relax and meditate.  Then raged, rattled the gate again and felt the fury of living in a world where we feel the need to lock things. If truth be told I had a miny existential crisis; my monkey mind ranting and raving about the state of the world.

It was a good half hour to three quarters of an hour before my husband appeared at the door of our apartment and I was able to wave and attract his attention.

He was very sweet to me for the rest of the day.

Full disclosure: we only recently moved here and are still getting used to this totally different lifestyle.  The move was prompted by a knowing that it was time to downscale and try something totally different. It was not rational – more a Divine order sort of thing!

What has this whole saga got to do with Valentine’s Day and the whole Love -gig?

I must admit that I have, to date, been a hopeless, soppy romantic! Through the years I have worn red and white and made a great fuss of all my loved ones on the 14th of February. To my credit (at least in my little mind!) I stopped making it a romantic partner kinda thing quite early on (probably after my divorce) and opted for celebrating all my relationships when the Day of Love rolled around again.

The commercial aspects never appealed.  I preferred to send poems or handmade gifts and eats to all and sundry. Nowadays I feel a vehement aversion to the cheap red and white (often overpriced) baubles that flood the shops. I hate that flower (especially roses) triple in price!

A shout out to Checkers stores here in South Africa that I could buy a favourite bunch at the usual price yesterday! Yay!

I will admit to adoring the dress-up part!  Loving to dress up is pretty much part of my make-up though and not specifically reserved for Valentine’s Day.  Give me half a chance and I’ll dress up.

The thing is: I LOVE Love!

God/Love has always been my thing.

As a child I used to say we are born so that others may know love.

That has not changed for me. As far as I am concerned the whole Universe is made up of love (as we all are!).

Recently (well, for the last two years or so) I have been noticing hearts (our universal symbol for love) everywhere.

I mean EVERYWHERE, I go.

Those of you who follow my Facebook posts will know this. I like to take photos of these hearts and post them!

That brings me to why I wrote about Valentine’s Day after all.

Two days ago, I woke up to find that the scab on my injured finger had formed – you guessed it- a perfect heart!

Now if that isn’t proof that Love is everywhere, I don’t know.

Happy Valentine’s Day, my beloveds!