Happy Valentine's Day

Albeit, I must admit I hate the commercialisation aspect of it, (chocolates, red roses, stuffed toys et al) Valentines Day still holds a special place in my heart. How many times do we say, “I love you” to our parents, our spouses, our children, our grandparents and even some special friends? How many times do we reach out to our near and dear ones and say that they hold a special place in our heart and that we care about their well-being? Why do we take our own trusted circle of people for granted?

When I was growing up it was fashionable to have a boyfriend. But my wise Mom (my best friend) gave me an extremely sane piece of advice, “Do not grab a boyfriend just because all your friends have one and it’s in vogue to have an arm candy. Do not let them dictate your actions. Just for once think like an individual, is this what my heart truly desires? Listen to your inner voice; you’ll know when the right one comes along.” And as it happened, the right one came along 5 years later and we’ve settled into marital bliss ever since. Maybe my Mom taught me to be heartless, fastidious and guarded. But her words of wisdom have always helped me steer clear from distractions.

Coming back to the brass tacks, you do not need a boyfriend or girlfriend to shower all your love upon. You also do not need a particular day to say “I love you”. However, we tend to become so absorbed in our day to day humdrums that we fail to say the obvious to our cherished ones. So let's use Valentine's Day as a vehicle to actually say what we always mean to say every day of our lives ...

I would not like to repeat any mistakes of the past and unabashedly say – I love you Mom, Dad, husband, grandmas, uncles, aunts, cousins and even in-laws …

Now go ahead and enjoy some mouth-watering shrewsbury biscuits and have a Happy Valentine's day!

Food For Thought: Valentine-y Vanilla Hearts