Rain clouds and jabs on love day

I woke up this morning to rain clouds and wind. I had been hoping for actual rain. I was pleased when I opened the newspaper yesterday to the weather page and saw a whole line of little boxes with drawings of rain clouds releasing torrential rain earthwards. I could almost smell the fresh rich aroma of wet earth just looking at the forecast. But no rain today. Instead I watched dramatic gunpowder grey clouds move slowly across the sky all day, and listened to the sound of wind bending the trees this way and that outside.

Today was love day -- a day that I used to enjoy immensely all through my twenties when I had a second half to share it with in some way or another. Over the past few years though, I watch the approach of February 14th on the calendar with a certain degree of dread, wishing I could jump from the 13th to the 15th without having to wade through another love day as a single woman. It's not like I suddenly become single on valentines day, but on February 14th I am confronted by my romantic status head-on, and because I have no single friends that live anywhere close to me to call up and do something fun with, the day often leaves me feeling rather blue.

Today was also my day for getting the first four of the slew of vaccinations that I have to get for my upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic. Usually the thought of getting one vaccination would have been enough to cast a dark shadow over my day. I had many health problems in my youth that necessitated far more blood tests than the ordinary teenager has to put up with, and so my tolerance for needles is very, very low. But today I managed to get through my day feeling really upbeat about the whole process. It was no party, by any means, but I enjoyed my day both before and after the jabs, and I felt well enough to come home, prepare a valentines day meal for my parents, and then accept, and thoroughly enjoy, an invitation to have dinner out with four couples who have become good friends of mine over the last few months.

After a long evening of eating a delicious Persian meal, followed by excellent glasses of black tea sweetened with sugar crystals on a stick, and enjoying discussion with friends who have lived in Egypt, Latin America, India, China, and Israel, and whose conversations jump from stories of traveling through the Amazon by canoe to what the outcome of the current political changes in Egypt will be, to accounts of going into a pet store to purchase a rabbit to make stew with, and descriptions of life on sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic, I arrived home feeling truly happy and grateful. For the first time in years, I actually enjoyed love day and being single, at the same time. I enjoyed the wintry light filtering into the living room, and my good friend Ahava Shira's radio show 'Love in the Afternoon.' I made it through my vaccinations for the day with nothing but a rather sore arm. And I joined my friends in filling the dinner table with laughter and good times.

It is now a quiet February night, nearing 1am on the 15th. I love this time of night. I love the silence, and the uninterrupted focus that I seem to able to tap into while everyone else in the house is sleeping. It has been a great love day in my world. I hope your day was just as filled and overflowing with love. Happy valentines day!