Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Valentine’s Day is Tuesday — a day celebrated by lovers with fancy cards, chocolates, and flowers.
Historically, Valentine’s Day is a celebration of Saint Valentine, a third-century Roman saint widely celebrated on Feb. 14 and commonly associated with “courtly love,” a Medieval European concept emphasizing nobility, chivalry and selfless acts of charity.
Typically, Valentine’s Day is thought of as a day for couples in love to exchange flowers, jewelry, cards and chocolate or enjoy a romantic evening at a fancy restaurant. While that is a wonderful tradition, the modern version of Valentine’s Day is growing to become more about celebrating your love for everyone in your life.
In our busy modern world it can be hard to take a break and spend time with those you love. Valentine’s Day is an annual, public reminder to take this time and cherish the special people in your life. It’s a reminder to say, “I love you.”
Here’s the thing — Valentine’s Day can be about more than one kind of love. With that in mind, you might celebrate the holiday by sending a card to a family member you love or miss, and share with them all the ways their love makes you happy, or spend some time with friends you care about.
You can even reach out to those you don’t know who might be a little bit lonely this holiday. You can make Valentine’s cards to distribute to local nursing home residents and Meals on Wheels recipients. You can send cards or send a note to someone else in the community, police officers, firefighters, medical personnel, etc., letting them know you appreciate them.
We would also encourage you to keep in mind those who see this day as an annual reminder of love they lost, long for, or perhaps never had. Send flowers or candy to someone who lives alone, or reach out to a single parent or widow or widower with a gesture of loving care.
Be creative and find ways to spread non-intimate sentiments of love to those who simply need someone to care.
These may seem frivolous on the surface, but they’re important ways for people to express spending the day of love with the people they love.
Valentine’s Day can be about so much more than romantic love, it can be about appreciating the people in our lives, especially ourselves. Take some time to practice self-love in whatever way feels best for you, maybe a walk in the neighborhood or some at-home spa time with a long bath or shower.
So, cuffed or not, don’t forget to tell the people in your life that you love them on Feb. 14 — because ultimately, Valentine’s Day is what you make of it.
However you choose to celebrate, we wish you and yours a Happy Valentine’s Day!