A Little Sugar

I love Valentine’s Day. I don’t feel the pressure that accompanies other holidays. I sent a bouquet of sweetheart roses to mom. When we were kids she made it the best holiday – a special dinner in the dining room on good china. Cherry cheese pie for dessert.

I bought Ed a Treo, which for those less tech among us combines several features in a single hand held device. You can send and receive email from it (it has a tiny keyboard), synchronize it with your work or home calendar and keep your schedule and contacts handy. It’s a cell phone. It’s a digital camera. It’s got a little video recorder. It’s an MP3 (music) player. You can get full internet access – so you can browse the internet, instant message, anything you can do while you’re online. You can take a picture or a video, for example, and immediately email that to someone from the device, no matter where you are. It can act as a wireless port and enable internet connectivity for your lap top. You could be on a boat on the Bay, for example, with your lap top and the Treo would enable internet connectivity and you could ruin a perfectly beautiful leisure day by being able to work. (How lovely.) On some level it sounds dangerous. He loves it.

I, on the other hand, received a fabulous new digital camera. This was a combined present for several holidays and probably makes up for errant gift giving behaviors of the past. It’s a Canon EOS 20D. I am so stoked!!

So yes, of course, these material gestures don’t actually signify love. They don’t mean that we love each other, that our relationship is going well, that we hold one another in a state of mutual regard and respect or that we’re happy. I’m not suggesting that things are going poorly, rather, merely, that these gifts don’t necessarily signify anything to the contrary. But maybe, you know, things aren’t always going perfectly and I won’t notice so much because I’ll be distracted with my frill’n awesome new digital camera.

Happy Valentines Day to you and yours! May the gifts you give and receive be glorious distractions from the imperfections of your lives and loves. If you find yourself in a single state this most perfect of holidays, it makes you no less in need of distraction – just go buy one of your own (you know, if you’re not with the one you love then love with one you’re with – even if you’re alone.. maybe, especially if you’re alone.) We’re all imperfect and we all need a little sugar.