V A is a long standing and recognised digital creative; her voice resonates with many. In the last ten years, the site has developed into an online destination for fashion, beauty and lifestyle advice. Her sense of style, editorial flair and practical counsel offers an inspired and graceful approach to living.

V A is a long standing and recognised digital creative; her voice resonates with many. In the last ten years, the site has developed into an online destination for fashion, beauty and lifestyle advice. Her sense of style, editorial flair and practical counsel offers an inspired and graceful approach to living.

Edit by: Vicki
Feb 11, 2013

Valentine’s Day… Are You A Believer?

 


February is well and truly here… I can’t quite believe that… it seems moments ago that we were talking tinsel and fairy lights…and now, we are quick stepping our way towards Valentine’s Day.


Shall we chat about amour and all things rouge in the coming days? Not as a tribute to one day in the long life of love but as a reason to air our thoughts on this very complex subject.


I have never really celebrated Valentine’s Day… not in the way my children do… It wasn’t on my calendar back in the day…  the 14th February did not have the importance nor the significance. I have a vague recollection of a few anonymous cards in my teenage years… enough, not to feel like a complete wallflower… but I don’t remember it being a big deal. I am not with someone who believes that love should be measured and qualified on one particular day… we just don’t do that… and yet I am married to the most loving, generous and oftentimes incredibly romantic man… I suppose that a couple who have been together longer than they haven’t should rejoice in their long and enduring relationship…  We do revel in our good fortune… for a love that is ongoing and long lasting is truly something to cherish… we acknowledge each other with tiny and grand gestures… we mark the moments often, but for whatever reason, not on Valentine’s Day. It is not a considered decision… it’s not because we have negative or anti feeling towards a day of hearts and flowers… it’s just the way it is… But…  perhaps this year is the year to rock the boat… shake things up a bit.. surprise him… show him the full Valentine’s treatment… for who wishes to be predictable… never me… and I can guarantee… he won’t be expecting it… Predictable is the cold shower of romance… the unexpected is where all the fun lies.


At the risk of igniting a few flames, I suspect the romantic nature of Valentine’s Day appeals much, much more to the girls than it does to the boys.. Women need the trappings of love in a more obvious way than men… yet we women would never deceive ourselves by thinking that men don’t need and don’t desire love… they are just programmed differently.


I am all for celebrating love… in any way… so whether it’s soft centred chocolates and long red roses… champagne and candlelight… a can’t-put-down novel where the tears and the sighs make it all yours… or the knowledge that you are ensconced in the love of someone very special… celebrating love can only be a great, great thing. For to be loved and to love is the greatest gift of all.


Valentine’s Day… Are you a believer? xv

My Top Ten Great Tales of Romance

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen… I try and re-read this every year

Jane Eye by Charlotte Bronte… who doesn’t fall in love with Mr Rochester

The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger… *sigh*

The Notebook by Nicolas Sparks… who hasn’t shared a bucketload of tears over this one

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare… if only I could re-write the ending

Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell… my all time great love

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden… the film and the book

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy… Russian drama at it’s finest

The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough… an Australian epic of forbidden love

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje… more tears


image  manger.com

 

Edit by: Vicki
In This Post: Lifestyle