Valentines Day, Cliches, Hallmark Holidays, and Oneness for the ‘Still’ Single

Valentines Day, its big business, and in my line of work, we sell love through food.  Don’t get me wrong, I love food and romance. I romanticize food ALL the time in photos and descriptions. I even have an Aphrodisiac class this weekend. I tell the story every year from the movie “Like Water for Chocolate.” My favorite tale of love,  where Tita’s love is all up in her food. Its a sexy class, I love to see  my couples class make out in the kitchen, dance ( yeah they do that, because I’m playing Al Green ), make a great meal, and simply have a fun night. I am by all counts a true romantic.

This past year I’ve made a real commitment to spending as much time alone as possible in my own aura. It’s by far  been one of the best years of my life.  Another Valentines Day is upon us, and I’m what people call “still single.”  So you might read the above paragraph and come out with some spiritual cliche ( BS)/advice about me ( or you for that matter)  or convince yourself that we are not believing we deserve that kind love, that those couples have. You couldn’t be further from the truth.

I never thought I ‘d sound like one of those cliches, but here we are. It really is all about self love.  There I said it.  I recently went on a date. The gentleman asked me what I thought romance was. I replied,” romance is remembering to put the toilet seat down, it’s showing up  when you say you will, its the day to day unromantic things that are romantic, it’s a kind of devotion that’s a rare find.”   I guess you could say after 65 years, I’m pretty jaded. But lets not judge that either. Experience is a great teacher. Comes with the territory right?  So is noticing, I’ve come to  love my alone time. Ah,the gift that comes with age. 

There is this wonderful meme circulating. “I want someone I can share my entire life with, who will leave me alone most of the time.”  

For those addressing loneliness, Krishna Das has a 2012 workshop, on you tube on Love and  Relationships. “What we are really looking for is a hit, we want to be seen though loving eyes. ” I’m paraphrasing here”, We  are fooling ourselves if we think we can find that in a another person.” Relationships are business, give and take. You give me this, I give you that, do your business ” Its my favorite talk in the world to listen to. ” What we are really looking for is a ONENESS.”

Maybe its more about the loves IN your life and not so much” The” love OF your life. 

I’m sitting here typing on this rainy February day, thinking about my dog Benny and how we are such life partners, as most animal companions are. He barks, I get annoyed ( as does everyone else). But he sits in the window waiting for me the moment I walk out the door.  That love doesn’t exist in humans.There isn’t a day that passes, I am not completely besotted with him.  I feel completely loved, and in relationship with everything around me. ( except when I’m pissed off, but I have friends for that too). My friendships, the close ones, that have stood the test of time, the new ones that I cherish, I still have my mother, I have the most wonderful adult kids, one could ever hope for. And I love my work. All to say:

I’m pretty happy .  

The homogenized Hallmark holiday  has a 24 hour news cycle. By Feb 15, it will all be over. The real love story  is everyday, the rain, the dog sitting in the window, the friend who picks up the phone. This  is my “recipe”.   Take heart, in every opportunity to love and  Be” Still”.  Its good.

Love,
Laurel