Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Remember getting cards in grade school and never knowing for certain if someone thought you were special because your teacher said everyone had to give everyone else a card – no playing favorites? She clearly did not know the true meaning behind this holiday. You wanted that affirmation! And what about those candy hearts with such sweet messages? BE MINE. I’M YOURS. KISS ME. TRUE LOVE. YOU AND ME. SEND CASH. Oh, wait, scratch that last one. Hearts all over the place. Too many red roses. Chocolate this and chocolate that. Too much pink and too much sugar.  So, what will I be doing on the 14^th? I won’t be sending any cards – to whom would I send them? And I won’t be receiving any in return – who would send them to me? Not my husband – it’s all he can do to remember my birthday. Why tax his brain with having to remember to get a birthday card AND a Valentine’s Day card in the same month? There will be no red roses. No candy hearts.  Instead, I’m going to spend the day at my computer reading your stories. I’ll try to think of your personal statements as longer versions of those candy hearts. LOVE SLS. ADMIT ME. SLS 4-EVER. I’M YOURS. CALL ME. So maybe love will be in the air after all. And when I need a break from those applications, I will instead celebrate a somewhat more obscure holiday. Ferris Wheel Day. Yes, February 14^th is the birthday of George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr. who invented the ferris wheel. Can you imagine a world without ferris wheels? This is something worthy of a holiday.

Just so you don’t think I’m a complete curmudgeon about Cupid and his arrow, let me leave you with a song appropriate for this day given it’s title and the fact that it has a timely message we all should take to heart (pun intended).

Gotta run. Need to find a ferris wheel…