…This morning the world is tilted. Does it feel different to you when you're walking, the way gravity is off? The planet's having to deal with a love hangover from Valentine's Day. Today will be a chaste day, but yesterday was a bawdy bash or maybe it wasn't, not everywhere anyway, maybe in Arkansas the romantics lined up their bouquets and recited poetry while in New Mexico men hired troupes of guitar players to serenade their beloveds. Who knows? The air does smell different today. The ground feels harder. I’m even leaning in my chair as if there’s a headwind.

…That fabulous photo above was created and taken by Joan Stepp Smith, who’s fabulous herself.

…I wonder what constitutes a successful Valentine’s Day. I suppose it is as simple as being with the one you love. Perhaps when you’re quite young, it’s about getting a special gift. A lot of people give chocolate. I don’t get that. It seems odd, on the cusp of cheesy or insulting. Why not give Sprees or SweetTarts? (Those are my favorite candies by the way, right behind gummy bears, cherry-flavored.) Then there are single-file roses wrapped in plastic with the grocer’s green pricing sticker on it that never really peels off all the way, leaving a sticky slit. Jewelry’s always good. Dinner. Hand-holding in low-lit places, some smoldering music in the background, maybe a little slow dancing, nothing grinding. Maybe it’s just talking, sharing secrets. Perhaps it’s just staring and really taking a good look. Yeah, I kind of think it’s those last two.

…I hope you had a fantastic Valentine’s Day and that you were properly loved.

…”Beauty always promises a return. The young always assume they’ll see you again.” Tom Chiarella