February 14 2014, Friday
Love is in the Air
The best Valentine’s Day present
I ever received was from my son, a stuffed shih tzu toy in a transparent
plastic box. That was in 1988 and he was 14. His father had just left us. It
was my son who taught me that Valentine cards and gifts could be sent to family
members and I was all he had!
Twenty years have passed and he
is now a grown-up man of 40 with a family of his own. I bet he has forgotten
that once upon a time he gave me a present on Valentine’s Day.
When people fall in love
especially in the case of first love, they become short-sighted. All that they
care about would be that one single person. A former student of mine now
studying architecture has just started dating. She complained that the boy didn’t
call her often and she began to wonder if they were dating. I warned her not to
scare the boy away!
Love is not always passionate. It
cannot be forever intense which is so exhausting! It does not have to adopt a
materialistic expression. It can be subtle, understood or appreciated. As a
relationship ages, it does not have to go stale. It is still there though it
might have taken a different form – care and support for each other. There is a
Chinese saying which goes “a small stream goes far”.
So make use of today, a day of
love, to surprise your Valentines!
Happy Valentine’s Day! Happy
Lantern Festival!
