I don’t care much about most holidays. Holidays bring with them many things that don’t particularly suit me. Wearing funny clothes. Rooms crowded with chattering people. Exchanging unwanted, unneeded gifts. People huddled around a television screen watching some strangers play football. None of those things particularly appeal to me.

On Valentine’s Day, however, I am reminded that at least one thing went very right in my life. For twenty-one years, I have been married to my best friend. Her beauty intoxicates me. Her smile lights my life. Her laughter fills my heart. Her love makes everything else worthwhile.

In the Middle Ages, the French believed that on February 14, the birds pair off to mate. On this February 14, I am grateful that I am not a bird. I am not in search of a mate. I have my Valentine, and I am hers. And all is well with the world.
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Photo of parrots used with permission from BrooklynParrots.com, © Copyright Stephen C. Baldwin 2005-2006.