Wrong Wrong Wrong.

It's St. Valentine's Day!

I had been viewing the holiday the way Joan Collins greets her birthday: "Oh. Yeah. I guess it is. What's on cable?"

But beneath the commercialism of the holiday (in which it's so easy to get caught up, especially with all the goofy ads on television for teddybears and diamonds), the abstract concept it celebrates is worthy indeed: Love.

So what is the role that Love plays in my life?

I'd like to think it's significant.

These days, of course, that love tends to be epistolary.

[Yo! Wait! Time out! It's a SingleTails neologism! Epistolary: Having to do with, or mostly contained in letter. Well then how about "E-pistolary," meaning, "having to do with or mostly contained in e-mail"? Get it? That's good, right? Six weeks from now, when you see E-pistolary everywhere, remember where you read it first.

Now, back to our posting...]

I've gotten a couple of Valentine's Day cards and emails, and I'm grateful for them. But gosh, the Abélard and Heloise thing makes thin gruel after a while.

I have to admit I wouldn't mind a romantic dinner for two. I'll even do the cooking!

But, as one of the characters in "Something Wild And Dark" reminds the hero, "You can't go looking outside yourself for what you need to find inside yourself." It's not about the love you need, it's about the love you have to give.

So that's my meditation for the day: the love I have to give. And looking for opportunities to offer up the gift of my love, for a minute, for a night, or for a lifetime.

And speaking of which, even though there's freezing rain outside, Faithful Companion, my great schoolmaster in love, needs a walk.