Well, it’s Valentine’s Day. The day when you are supposed to tell people you love them and give out gifts of all sorts to help prove that love. So in that spirit: I love you.

You can decide if you believe me or not. Now, I’m not gonna be all bitter about Valentine’s Day or all sappy. Sorry, both camps will have to find other hawkers for their wares today.

Instead I find myself thinking back to grade school. You know we used to do that little thing where you would buy Valentines and then give them to people. I don’t know where the money went, I don’t know what we raised it for and maybe the nuns had a backroom that we didn’t know about and they played craps at night with our hard-earned funds laughing at the foolish children and their predilection for paper hearts. Maybe.

But that’s not the point.

No, really it was that even if you were the kid who never got a single heart, it was fun. Well, sure it was less fun for that kid but the teacher would sneak an extra heart thing in for that kid so he didn’t ever know. I only know that because I saw it happen once. I didn’t tell. This might be the first time I’ve told, so uhhh, if you went to school with me and were in the 4th grade with me and only got one heart and didn’t know who it was from and… yeah sorry to reveal that bit of news to you now. My bad.

These days its little internet widgets (and for the record I typed “midgets” three times there) that will let strangers and friends tell you how much you rock. The ego boost is a good thing. You rock. You really do. I should know. Don’t ask about how and don’t look for the camera behind your dresser, just accept that I know these things and move on.

So today is the day of love. The day of special promises and presents and loneliness and wistful thinking – all at once. If I could buy you each a box of chocolate and some roses I… I wouldn’t, but I would be a hell of a lot richer than I am and then I could do cool things with my money and abuse some power. So that’s a shame, right there, that I can’t. But in my heart, where I don’t actually have to worry about the reality of the money, I would totally buy you each something cool to celebrate the day.

Even the people I don’t like.

You know why? Everyone deserves some love. At least one day a year, everyone should feel loved. It may be false, pre-packaged and shrink-wrapped love, but it would still be love that they deserve.

So really, I hope you feel loved today. In some way, by someone or something. And if you don’t, if you need an extra burst of love today to get you through the afternoon, you just let me know and I’ll come in with some love for you. That’s my promise for today. I will love you, even if no one else does.

(The Mgt. is not responsible for the quality, perceived or real, of the love given, or the amount, form or shape of that love. The Mgt. also refuses to apologize for any trauma the freely given love may cause, as well as rashes, burning, itching or tearing. This offer of love is valid for one day only and may include things not normally describable as love to most. Redeem at your own risk.)