Valentine's Day — The best and worst

Valentine's Day is marvelous for children, young lovers and businesses. The day provides an opportunity for couples of all ages to celebrate and enjoy romance.

Below are some of my favorite stories of how young lovers celebrated Valentine's Day last year.

As love matures, our symbols change. The once-a-year orchestrated gifts of balloons, lingerie, jewelry, flowers, cute cards and chocolates seem to almost trivialize the deepest love and most important relationship in our lives.

That's hard for many young lovers to understand.

Last Year's Memorable Attempts

"My boyfriend is the world's worst gift giver... Finally last Valentine's Day, I decided that I was going to force him to get me a quality gift," reports a woman I'd love not to meet.

After the young darling stomped her foot down, you'll never guess where the couple ended up. Yes. You're right. The couple ended up in her bed which was covered with rose petals. That's almost like a movie. Wait! It is a scene from a movie.

Another woman wrote how her heart jumped with joy to see "I love you" painted in red on their carport door. I hope the relationship proves to be more permanent than the paint.

Another satisfied lover lived on a farm where her new spouse spray-painted "I love you" on the grass in their pasture. No word if the cows gave red milk the following week.

All kidding aside, these are clever expressions of love.

Yet another woman complained her boyfriend wasn't creative. She told him she was bored to tears with his gifts of chocolates and flowers.

Obediently, the young man surprised her.

How? He made sandwiches, bought an expensive bottle of wine and took her on a picnic. Where? They celebrated their love in the local cemetery.

"I'll never forget that day," she recalls. I bet uncomfortable mourners won't either.

Other Expressions

In the Christian existentialist Soren Kierkegaard's two volumes Either/Or, exchanges about love pass between a young man driven by his feelings and an older man driven by his thinking and commitment.

When I was writing my doctoral dissertation on Kierkegaard, I was that young man intrigued with the older judge's ethical presence. Today, I am no longer the younger man.

As the years pass, couples change. Most spend less time in Hallmark stores or Frederick's of Hollywood. Instead, they create meaningful, personal expressions of love that become more significant to them than tangible presents.

For centuries, philosophers have compared love to growing a garden that requires daily care and attention.

Young gardeners' dedication sometimes shrivels and the garden dies. But true gardeners and true lovers care for their gardens regularly.

After the years pass, older couples smile when they watch the celebrations of young lovers. "Let's see if they have what it takes to last."

Mature lovers work to express daily care and create shared symbols to celebrate the depth of their love.

What more could balloons and chocolates add?