I never cared much for Valentine’s Day but now it is also my anniversary so we will go out for dinner, but mostly it will be low key.

I’m hosting my annual dinner party with 8 great friends we give each other little valentines and my husband and I cook… fun doing this for 10 years.

My love and I will be spending our 34th Valentine’s day together, dining with my niece and nephew at a great restaurant on Manhattan’s upper West Side. Love the food, love the kids, love each other. All is good!

I will be sending a pantygram to a “hunky” triathlete that I have been dating and dropping off a gift certificate for rock climbing, that I hope we will do together…..fully clothed of course….:-)

Spending the previous Friday PM with hubby and me and a quiet dinner out. On valentines day I will dole out chocolates and card to hubby and kiddos. I think the kids have valentines for family also…been acting secretive. Hmmm…

As a child, Valentines Day was very fun. The cards with glitter and cute sayings were my favorite part. Little envelopes that each held a special surprise. Candy hearts with LUV ME or LUV U on them were a great treat. Then, over the last 20 years it turned into this do or die evening that had to be just perfect for and from the one you love. I am not that into it. I don’t need that. I love flowers and a card, but I just think it is a manufactured holiday to sell more cards and candy. Sometimes we make it special and go out to dinner or something, but mostly we agree not to get weird about it, and for me, that is the best gift I can get. My husband has a gig this saturday night so I may go and relax and enjoy some good music with him.

Having married some of the most worthless men in the universe, I willl kiss my cat!

I like St. Valentine Day. It’s a great idea, but it always gives me horrible shivers. When I was young, I had to quit school and go to work. The places I worked always paid their employees twice a month…on the fifteenth and on the last day of the month. I was earning the most minimal salary a young guy could expect, and by the fifteenth, I was completely broke. Unfortunately Valentine Day was the fourteenth and I would go through sheer agony knowing that I just didn’t have the money to buy my loved one even a simple gift, like candy or flowers; and in those days, everybody was in the same boat, so there was no question that anyone could afford to spring me a few dollars even for a day, because I would have been able to make good the next day, it being “payday-the- fifteenth”. Thankfully I was kind of handy in sculpting and a pretty good painter. It came naturally. The family were all artisans. So using my natural god-given talents I managed to come up with a reasonable and presentable gift that at least was a genuine indication of my fervent love for my sweetheart. That was a long time ago. I don’t have the same money problems that plagued me then, and I have absolutely no difficulty now producing a fine present for my, still the same, sweetheart. She loves the boxes of candies and the bouquets of flowers I give her but they don’t last like the art gifts I made specially for her with my own young hands, and which she treasured dearly. She still has these gifts which adorn our home and by this time are considered very special chefs- d’ouvre: at least, by her. I must say though, that I still get that awful empty drawn down feeling every year on St. Valentine’s Day. The feeling lingers enough to discourage any thoughts I might have to celebrate the day. Just to have her here so I can say that she is still my Valentine is celebration enough. I couldn’t ask for more.

I wish you all a Happy Valentine Day! And may I say just one thing..? If he/she comes home to you and you are the one he/she holds all through the night… consider yourself blessed. And try not to sweat the small stuff.