Happy Valentine's Day, and a Memory of My Mom

Feb 14, 2022 7:32 pm

Hello lovely people! And Happy Valentine's Day!

Oh yes, I know that Valentine's Day is fraught with teen angst and sometimes grown up angst, and basically all the angst (is there any other holiday with this much angst?). So I wanted to give a little tribute to my mother. If you've been on the newsletter for a while, you know that she passed away close to ten years ago from cancer (right, right, that doesn't sound very Valentinesy--though I guess, plenty angsty--I'm getting there though). Anyway, she made holidays so much fun (while also keeping them simple and sane). Before Valentine's Day, she would help us make little homemade Valentine's for each other (me, my siblings, and our parents). We made them out of doilies (at six years old, this was probably the most beautiful thing imaginable to me), construction paper, and markers or crayons. I thought they were the most gorgeous things on Earth. Then, we would sneak them to the bedside of the person receiving them--kind of like Santa on Christmas Eve. Then, you'd wake up in the morning with a little pile of Valentine's on your bedside. We just did it for a few years, (it's okay, Moms, these things don't have to be perfect or to go forever to be well remembered), but it's a sweet memory for me.

Mom did a great time making Valentine's Day all about love, not necessarily romance. Even through my teen years, I remember enjoying Valentine's Day. I didn't realize that everybody didn't love Valentine's Day until I got to college and some of the girls hated it. Apparently, if you didn't have a boyfriend, Valentine's Day wasn't for you. Well, that seemed like a waste. Because, the thing I learned from my mom is that we can use this holiday to celebrate all kinds of love, not just the kind involving boys (not that there's anything wrong with involving boys if you've got one hanging around:).

In honor of Mom (who just had a birthday) and in honor of Valentine's Day, I've put Hugging Death: Essays on Motherhood and Saying Goodbye up for free. For those of you who haven't read it, it's a brief collection of essays about my mom--many of them dealing with her cancer and finding the bright spots in a dark time. I hope if you read it you can feel the love and healing that I felt in remembering her.

Now, if you're also into a little sweet romance (the kind that involves boys...), I've also got a few FREE stories/novellas for you to try. I'll warn you that I haven't read these authors, but I know that they write clean romance. So have a look at these and decide if they're right for you (a little like a chance to find your book soul mates).

Enjoy! And have a wonderful holiday, whether you're with someone special, or a whole big family of special someones, or just enjoying a day loving yourself.