BROKEN HEARTS, WITHERED FLOWERS, DEAD CUPIDS

My initial plan was to post some delightfully bizarre vintage Valentine cards today, but I noticed that several hundred other bloggers had the same idea - - and the same Valentines.

Consequently, I'm being forced to wing it and give a completely impromptu dissertation. Beware.

Note:
The post title has little to do with the content. It was only intended to grab your attention.

I remember a time when a Valentine's Day gift consisted of a simple box of chocolates and a greeting card from the Five and Dime (if you don't know what a Five and Dime is, you're too damn young to be reading this blog). Nowadays, a gift for Valentine's Day involves maxing out your credit card. Diamonds, maybe? A trip to Bora Bora? How about a new car. 
Fur coats are out. Wear one you'll get snagged and skinned by a member of PETA.
I'm not complaining. I'm just saying.


Remember those little boxes of colorful candy Conversation Hearts? Necco still makes them, but the messages on the hearts have changed drastically. Instead of saying Be Mine, Kiss Me, & Love Me - -  they are now embellished with Text Me, Tweet, & Girl Power.
WTF??

Valentine's Day was devised solely for the pleasure of women. Men hate it, though they're afraid to admit it. Just like they hate weddings and anniversaries. Lately, however, I've observed that more & more women are becoming less & less concerned about Valentine's Day, too. After all, it's just another big, brash, mercilessly commercialized money-making racket.

Despite being an extremely romantic sappy sentimentalist - -  I've never cared a cat's whisker about Valentine's Day. There's no way that I want to be cajoled into faux romanticism on one particular day of the year. It's in direct contrast to my nature. Romance and expressions of love should be spontaneous and genuine - - not mandatory.

I'm not about to buy dust-collecting, mite infested teddy bears. Whenever I buy candy, it's for my greedy self. 

Were you expecting flowers? I'll send you a package of seeds. That's an old joke but a funny one.
So why aren't you laughing?

When I was a child in grade school we were compelled to exchange Valentines with every kid in our class - - boys & girls alike. It was an exercise in fairness. They were those little penny Valentines that were cute and benign. I don't think they make them anymore. Nowadays, nothing is cute or benign.

I emitted a wistful sigh after saying that. Good gawd, I'm archaic.

Do I believe in true love? 
Yea, about as much as I believe in Cupid or the Tooth Fairy. I'm getting cynical in my declining years.

Actually, I do believe in true love - - but it's only rarely experienced in a lifetime. Infatuation and lust are very often mistaken for love. I've been infatuated hundreds of times - and in lust more times than Satan could count.

The most intensely passionate, absolutely perfect relationship of my life - - which was the ultimate personification of true love - - unfolded like a great romance novel but ended in tragedy and untimely death. I hope to write about it someday. 
Someday.......
I later tried to replicate that true love many times, but never could.

I'm starting to get too serious, which wasn't my original intention.

What I wrote about love long ago still largely expresses my sentiments today, so I've extracted it from mothballs to quote once more:

The elements of true love encompass every emotion and strike every age - awakening dormant spirits, igniting the innermost regions of the soul, expanding far beyond the emotional or the physical, soaring towards the realms of the universe into the sacrosanct blessedness of eternity.


One of my all-time favorites:
I'm Still Loving You, by the Scorpions
(with English and Spanish lyrics)