Day 45: Happy Valentine's Day

I probably could write a whole essay on valentine's day and how disruptive it is, but that's kind of cause I'm the Scrooge of Valentine's Day. I admit it, I think it is a forced holiday that is harder on people than fun. That said, I've had a nice day compared to most years.

Last year on Valentine's Day I visited my mother, brother and my sister in law who was dying in a hospice in Branford, CT of cancer. It was a wonderful day. I know that is a strange thing to say, but Linda was a wonderful angel and that day was helpful in that it allowed the family to talk about death in an open way without talking about our mother who had this degenerative disease at the grand old age of 89 at that point. Linda may have been 58.

The Branford hospice is a beautiful place. Her bed was near this giant window that overlooked the Sound and a little island that had become a bird sanctuary. One could sit there and watch it forever. It was a beautiful day, the water was that deep blue and it sparkled. I will always be grateful for it. I never did see Linda again.



This morning when Emma said let's go out to the Wagon Wheel for breakfast and go over to the Cove and walk around it didn't occur to me that it was Valentine's Day and I probably should have had a valentine for her. I didn't this year. We had to count change up and gather it in a plastic bag, get dressed and head out in the sunny but very cold and windy day.





The Cove is a smaller but similar place as the Sound. The Connecticut River and the Deerfield River come together at the falls in Turners, but before that the Connecticut bulges out and creates this little cove with islands in it. It is mainly a place for fishermen and campers. There are pathes all around and there is an island across the way that usually has a bald eagle's nest. Emma saw the bald eagle this morning. We saw gulls and ducks and crows, but she saw the big one.

We like going there not only because it is beautiful and there are a lot of things to see, but because it is peaceful and clearly a spiritual spot. We always find feathers.

Today is Valentines Day and the New Year, beginning the year of the Tiger. It is Sunday. It was appropriate for us to go and look at beauty and to have our own type of spiritual activity without calling it that, it made us both reflective and calm.

Happy Valentines Day all of you who know I love you. You all are so very important to me. Emma asked me if my family was more important to me than my friends. I said, "No, my friends and family are all one big family." "Lindy, are you going to cry when your Mother dies?" "OH EMMA, I am going to be really sad, it is going to be really hard on me for a time. But I know we can't all live forever." "But is she the most important person to you?" "Yes, that's probably true, but ya know, I love you love you love." "Yeah, I know."