Is there anything worse than unrequited love?

 

Do you remember poor Charlie Brown and that red-headed-girl?  If only she'd notice him, if only she cared, his life would be wonderful!

Oh, boy, I remember my Jr. High crushes.  Brett Malinkski, Todd Dwire and Justtin Heinecke...OH Justin Heinecke! That poor guy.  I was completely in love with him in the 8th grade.  I wrote my name and his name on my notebooks, I just stared in silence whenever he'd walk by, I told everybody in my class that he was the cutest guy in the whole wide world, I went to dances just wishing that he'd ask me to dance...he never did.  I was your typical teenage girl with a terrible crush who probably made that poor guy uncomfortable for every day of that spring in 1987.  I still remember how much it hurt that he didn't like me back.  A total rejection...and when you're a teenager you see it as a rejection of not only your long spiral perm and your yellow Esprit sundress, but of who you are inside.

As adults with families our love grows much deeper, more spiritual, and much more complicated than simply "wow- he's cute!"....Those moments of "wow, he's cute" still sneak up on us and when they do, it's always nice to say a little thanks to God for granting a moment of those butterflies of-oh-so-many-years ago.

As we mature, we learn to love those who love us because rejection is just too painful.  We give our time and energy to those people who see through us- terrible faults and all- to who we really are inside.  If you're lucky, you have a handful of people in your life who truly love you and who you truly love back.  These are the people who we can't imagine our lives without.  No Hallmark card could possibly explain the depths of our love for these people even though some of us have a hard time expressing it on a day-to-day basis. 

For the rest of the folks a sweet card can explain how we feel.  And it doesn't have to be a card, just a quick mention that we appreciate them, that we care about them or that we admire them. 

I know when I get those kinds of Valentines, I feel like I'm 7-years-old again with my decorated shoebox.  Is there any sweeter feeling than that?

So Happy Valentine's Day, dear readers.   Spread a little love.

P.S.  Thanks to one of those people I love for kicking off this thought today!