A Valentine

Despite the commercial cheesiness of the holiday, I enjoy Valentine's Day. Not because I want to get flowers or chocolate, but because I like thinking about what it means to love. We tend to think about love in the context of our relationship with people or other living things-- I love this man, I love my dog...and we also like to exaggerate our enjoyment of inanimate objects that can't love us back-- I love cheese danishes, I love these jeans cause they make my butt look great. But that sells love short, don't you think? 

On the surface, V Day is just a superficial excuse to make couples feel smug and single people feel gipped, but it can be more, too. Just the simple act of thinking about what love means to us as humans has to have some merit, right? V Day is a sort of touchstone for me when it comes to love-- I can look back to Valentines Days past and evaluate how I have given and received love. Over time I hope to see a positive trend of loving deeply and without reserve, of looking to see the beauty in everyone I meet, of loving others--and myself for that matter--  despite knowing that we are all imperfect and flawed, yet still deserving of love and compassion. 

I want to see the beauty in every person I meet. I am a long long way from that ideal, but in the meantime I can practice by seeing the beauty in the people I love and by celebrating and honoring them. I can also look for the beauty and love that abounds in the whole wide world (this blog is an exercise in that effort) so, to that end, here is my VDay Ferry Commute Valentine to you. May you find beauty and joy everywhere you look. 

In Mardi Gras gnomes

In resting butterflies

In banana flowers!

In knowing that weeds are plants whose virtues have been forgotten (that's Emerson, I think)

In finding cozy nooks 

In ferns that spring from walls

And flowers that spring from streets!

You can figure this one out!

To me...

Happy Valentine's Day!