Symbols of Love.
I know they are not red roses, and I am aware that red roses are everybody idea of love and romance. I am also aware that this is valentines day and that red roses will be in big demand and most peoples mind will turn to love.
I have never really got involved in valentines celebrations for one reason and another. I suppose it all began at primary school when I became very aware that we were not all equal and some were much more equal than others. For some of my classmates valentines day was the most miserable day of the year.
Most people boasting, not always honestly, about the number of valentines they had got, while others having to admit they got none. Then those cruel shouts of nobody loves you.
What it all did though was to let me know that I was loved and that there were those that i in return loved. I made myself a promise very early on in life to not have a special day to tell those I loved that this was the case, every day it was important to do just that.
As the years have passed and valentines day has become more and more commercial I often wonder about the depth of love being expressed. After all is is never the quantity but the quality that counts.
Now before you stop reading and count me out a an uncaring person let me tell you a true story told to me by my daughter.
She worked in the hospital as a nurse and every day was always the same very very busy, with many people having appoints for one thing and another.
It was about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80's arrived at the hospital to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00 am.
My daughter took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. She saw him looking at his watch and decided, since she was not busy with another patient, she would his wound.
On examination, it was well healed, so she talked to one of the doctors, got the needed supplies to remove his stitches and redress his wound.
While taking care of his wound, she asked him if he had another doctor’s appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told her no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife.
She asked him about her health.
He told her that she had been there for a while and that she was a victim of Alzheimer’s Disease. So as she talked to him, she asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him in five years now.
She was surprised, and asked him, ‘And you still go every morning, even though she doesn’t know who you are?’ He smiled as he patted her hand and said, ‘She doesn’t know me, but I still know who she is.’
My daughter had to hold back tears as he left, She had goose bumps on her arm, and thought, 'That is the kind of love I want in my life.'
She knows that she has that kind of love in her life and not just from her husband whom she loves in just that same way.
One of my favourite songs is, "Love is all around." I would also sing and not just for a day.
That said I hope everyone who reached the bottom of the page and did not give up on me has a very happy valentines day.
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