Happy Valentine's Day (Tara Taylor Quinn)

Happy Valentine’s Day

Today’s a day for love. We Commercialize it. Chocolate it. Dine and Wine it. Some Jewelry it. Card it. We Stuffed Animal it. Many of us blow it off. We go to work. We watch TV. We wait for it to be over. Or we don’t notice it at all.

I’ve long been a hater of Valentine’s Day. Mostly because of all the February 14ths when I didn’t have a Valentine. I felt unloved. Alone. Not quite as good as everyone else out buying their cards and having dinner.

Today, I have a completely different view of the day. And the change of perspective came about from a very strange place.

I’ve been in criminal court all morning, observing a regular calendar. Defendants all chained together sit in a jury box and wait until their case is called. They stand. They hear legal ramblings, they say yes out loud for the record, and then they sit. There are no hearts and flowers here. This is real life, with real people who have made real mistakes. But they are still real people with real hearts. The defendants have loved ones sitting on a series of three benches behind the official courtroom area. They are not allowed any contact with them. And I watched as all of them found ways to communicate. With a look. A single mouthed ‘I love you.’ A nod.

And then another case was called. From behind me there was a gasped, "This is it." I’d thought the couple back there were family members of one of the defendants. They were not. The woman, a sweet looking dark haired woman in her thirties, stood up, took off her wedding ring, gave her husband a very long hug, a kiss that said she didn’t ever want to let go, and proceeded past the wooden partition to the front of the room where, sobbing, she pled guilty to a crime, was handcuffed, and with one last look at her husband, was led away. She was guilty. She has to pay. Happy Valentine’s Day.

And as I sat there with tears in my eyes, all I could do was be thankful for all of the love in my life. That woman has the love of her husband. She will be gone three years. I believe he will visit her at every opportunity, he will wait for her, he will support her when she is released. That is the kind of love this day celebrates. That is the kind of love I want to give. That is the kind of love I want to receive.

I got up this morning ho hum about the fact that it was Valentine’s Day. Now I want to spend the day in contact with all those that I love, thankful that I am free to contact them. To hug them. To sit at the table with them. To buy them cards and candy and look into their eyes and hold their hands. I stand corrected on this day. This is the most important day of the year. It is the day we celebrate our freedom to love.