In case you’ve been distracted with more pressing matters, let it be known that Valentine’s Day is fast approaching! The retailers are in full gear: hearts and flowers everywhere; fancy heart-shaped satin boxes of chocolates; piles of bagged heart-shaped candies with special messages; a sea of red in the greeting card sections; and, yes, the pajama and teddy bear TV ads have returned as well. To some of us who have fond memories of delivering hand-crafted Valentines to our “special people,” somehow, this commercial blitz seems a bit over the top. While all the hype is surely effective in stoking up a frenzy of expectation, I can’t help but think that the poor husband who faithfully serves his wife and family on a daily basis is being made to think he doesn’t measure up. It would seem Shannon Mette’s poem brings into a right perspective the subject of love – in and out of season.
Love Me on Tuesday …
With a smile and a tilt in her own special way,
“just love me on Tuesday,” is what she would say.
Quite puzzled at first and on such a quest …
Until she decided to fill me in on the rest:
“As you grow older and life becomes, oh, so busy,
You might miss my birthday or come late in a tizzy
Don’t worry about me; I know,” she would say.
“just love me on Tuesday and all is OK.”
It started so simple, then one day it made sense.
How could I have been so dense?
It was me who’d love her, is what –I had thought.
That wasn’t it at all. It was her love for others that I caught.
Our world is so vast and there is so much to handle;
The people who live with expectations … who holds a candle?
But to love and forgive and accept—that takes grace.
And that’s what she gave me so I could win the race.
So ease up on yourself and give others a break.
Allow them to breathe and take a breath for your sake.
Our life passes by in the blink of an eye.
How do you want to be remembered when you die?
Put yourself in the shoes of another.
The shoes I wear are the shoes of my mother.
When someone hurts you or misses the mark in some way,
Creating a situation that ruins your day,
Don’t give in to the world’s temptation.
Make a decision instead and change your expectation;
Pass on this phrase that has changed me in such a way:
“just love me on Tuesday and all is OK.”
Shannon Mette is a wife and mother of two, and is the owner and founder of www.healthbeat365.com, a practice in which she offers her services as a life coach and fitness trainer (HealthBeat365@gmail.com).