Thursday, February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day!

Aaron and I have traditionally NOT celebrated V-day on the actual date, preferring to take advantage of the shorter lines at restaurants on the days after. And also the discounted prices on candy. This year, Leah will be making that trip to the store with her daddy, as part of her Valentine's celebration. We did make our flowers tonight, but apparently she has become used to more pomp and circumstance. Ah, the innocence of youth - how quickly it is lost to good marketing.

During my first year at Cottey College, one of my friends told us about Best Buddies Day, to be celebrated on February 15th. That year, we all gave each other cards celebrating our friendships - and most of us even made the cards. I still have some tucked into scrapbooks.

I've always thought that BB Day would be a wonderful holiday to see widespread. As Crystal and I were discussing the other night, so often we just don't take the time to commemorate our closest friends. We see them so often that it's not a photo-taking occaision when we do. I have photos of friends that I only see a couple times a year in albums, but hardly any of my truly bff's.

Something lacking in today's culture is the willingness to tell someone how much you appreciate them - without immediately resorting to some form of self-conscious behavior.

And if someone does have the guts to look you in the eye and say "I really appreciate your friendship/respect your opinion/am glad you're in my family," PLEASE DON'T ARGUE. Just say 'Thank you." And give them a hug.

2 comments:

1 Craaazy Mamma! said...

Liz, you are so right about the reality of friendships in our society. All too often, we don't show our appreciation for our dearest friends, those that we typically can't think of living without.

I've found in life, that I tend to be the type of person that collects a few very close friends and would go to the ends of the earth for them. Because of that, I've run into many heartaches when something comes between us, whether it be a disagreement or mileage. I find that I've become more and more withdrawn with my emotions as life goes on in an attempt to spare myself more pain. Selfishly, that means that my friendships tend to be less connected, therefore making it more difficult to make friends let alone keep them.

I know that life has many struggles and friendships are the threads that hold us all together. You are a good friend to so many and I am glad to include myself as one of them. - Thank you! Tara :)

Noel said...

Ilene liked the Best Buddy Day concept.

We probably do more to celebrate Ground Hog's Day than Valentines Day given Ilene's Bday is on 2/2. As a collegiate geek back before I had met Ilene, I also was more successful in scheduling female social interaction on Groundhog's Day than Valentine's Day.

On 2/14, Ilene did cook up a to-die-FROM, bad-for-everybody's-diet pasta primavera. She also gave the girls roses with notes and gave us new toothbrushes with a note and I uh er...better get back to work here at the office.