Valentine's Day was just a commercialized day for me until exactly a year ago.  All the other years it just felt it was different stores selling superficial love.  All the chocolate and the flowers in the world to buy on one day has nothing to do with love.

It is nice to acknowledge one another, so of course I have been on both the giving and the receiving end on Valentine's Day.  Many of us make an effort today to show the ones we love that they are appreciated.  Something we should do every day, not just one day out of 365 days.

The way we show and give love is different for everyone.  So is how we feel that we are loved.  But the daily love that we all can show each other is to show up and be present with the ones you love.  Your full attention and company is the greatest gift.

If you are far away from someone you love you can show up in other ways.  A phone call shows that you care.  To hear the other person's voice can be balm for the soul.

Love does not know distance.  Only distant people have a hard time to reach someones heart.

A year ago my feelings about today totally changed with the funeral of My beloved Mormor (Grandmother) on Valentine's Day.  It could not have been a more fitting day, if you can have one for a funeral.  Through the grief during this day last year, I kept thinking this is what today is about.  Not saying goodbye to a loved one, but honoring and remembering the ones we love.  Dead, alive, partner, friends, parents, children, animals or this planet.  Today is about universal love.

My Mormor was the essence of what love is.  She gave love to all that she encountered in the way she treated everyone.  My Mormor would greet everyone with a kind word, a soft touch and with a warm heart.

That is what everyday love is.  Giving without expecting anything in return, because your heart says so.  I am striving to be better showing people that I love that they really matter to me.  Not just today, but everyday.  I have a bit to go, but I will keep trying to give love as much as I can.  Just like My Mormor did.

She was love.