Guest blogger: Hélène Young

Love is in the air

Love is in the air,
Valentines are all around,
Love is in the air,
And my heart begins to pound.
And I don’t know if it’s an illusion,
Don’t know if it can be true,
But it’s something that I must believe in,
And it’s there when I reach out for you.

(Apologies to John Paul Young…)

As a true-blue romantic, Valentine’s Day has always caused me some angst. Firstly, as a teenager, it was the breathless wait to see if a red envelope appeared in my letterbox with my name on it.

As a young adult it was agonizing over how to send one without being uncovered as the sender…

These days it’s the dilemma of indulging in something that has more to do with merchandising than love. The marketing departments of florists, chocolatiers, cuddly toy makers and card designers must work overtime.  No sooner have we drawn breath from Christmas than the stores start to fill with little red hearts (oh, and Easter eggs because a girl can never have too much chocolate, apparently!)

The rational half of my brain knows this is a way to make me spend money and therefore views it a little cynically, but…

I can’t help myself!

I smile at sentimental sonnets and cute pictures. I sigh over lush bunches of red roses, or exquisite single orchids. I almost drool over the delectable boxes of chocolate.  (Ok, ok, I DO drool…)

But there are many ways to show someone you care without the froth and bubble, and sometimes it can be a happy accident.

My wedding anniversary is the week before Valentine’s Day and my husband is not renowned for his evolved appreciation of romance, but he has scored the odd triumph over the years. The most memorable was our eighth anniversary when he came home with eight-dozen long-stem red roses. I ran out of vases, milk bottles and jars to hold them all. Our house smelt divine.

Being disarmingly honest, he did admit over a glass of champagne late in the evening that it was all in the timing. Turns out he’d arrived at the flower markets late because he forgot about the anniversary and the florist was getting rid of the day’s stock.

My husband jokingly asked, ‘How much for the whole box?’

‘Take ‘em. You can have the lot for fifty bucks,’ was the reply.

He pried his wallet open and parted with the entire contents, even being forced to raid the ashtray in the car for enough loose change to meet the price. Triumphant, he’d staggered home bearing a tatty cardboard box, unaware at that point that he’d even jagged eight dozen of the thorny little beauties. To another woman that may not have seemed romantic, but to me it was a big effort on his behalf. (Even if the Flower Gods had been forced to intervene!)

Romance is something so individual for each of us. You only have to open the pages of a romance novel to know there are many, many ways to bring romance into some one’s life – poems, gifts, breakfast in bed, sharing a moment of laughter, sharing a moment of sadness, holding hands in a shower of rain.

I have a friend whose husband handcrafted the most beautiful wrought iron candelabra for her as a gift, but he doesn’t see himself as a romantic! I sigh every time I think of it…

So, will you be celebrating Valentine’s Day this year, posting a card or slipping one into someone’s letter box? Perhaps social networking has changed all that and you’ll be sending a cyber card instead or posting a message on FaceBook?

Share your story and you’ll go into the running to win a copy of my new release, SHATTERED SKY.

And from me to you tomorrow, HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY  🙂

 

The competition has now closed. The winner of the book giveaway was Kaetrin.