That Old Kleenex Box

   Valentine’s Day…I used to love Valentine’s Day. It meant turning an old Kleenex box into a lace doily-pasted treasure trove of classmate notes. It meant rummaging through those homemade and store-bought Valentines, trying not to seem too desperate when looking to see if that special someone signed their name “Love, So-And-So”.  And the candy hearts – sure they usually tasted like chalk – but looking for a not-so hidden message was thrilling. Especially if “Love, So-And-So” included the “Kiss Me” pink heart.

Now, Valentine’s Day seems a little less shiny. It means hitting the halfway point to spring and avoiding all things chocolate so as not to undo New Year’s resolutions. The character in my upcoming book, “Only Mine”, finds life a little less shiny at the beginning of her story too. She’s searching for her true self instead of her true love (though this is a romance story, so no worries that she’ll find him). By Valentine’s Day, she’s made some good progress on that and throughout the story she’s learning the most important person to love is herself.

I hope your Valentine’s Day is full of laughter and love. And candy hearts – the good ones – not the ones that taste like chalk. But if you find yourself with that green heart that says “Hi” instead of one that says “Be Mine”, pull out an old Kleenex box and stuff it full of love notes to yourself. Paste and doilies optional.