The Holiday Leftovers

last week I was walking past a florist and this is what I encountered. Obviously they spread rose petals on the sidewalk to celebrate the Valentine’s Day holiday. As I stepped gingerly I hoped that people enjoyed the petals on that holiday, and I wondered how things were going now.

We spend exorbitant amounts of time being bombarded by media and television when it comes to the holidays. No matter the season there is a color, a party, a food, or a special way to celebrate. There is a special way to decorate, or a place to be, or something to buy for someone special. I’m not sure the holidays are to let the people we love know we love them, as it is for retailers and marketing companies to make more money working to sell us on one more thing. and unfortunately we get trapped in this cycle year after year. And when we look back at the last holiday, all we may se are trampled flower petals…if we don’t out it all into perspective.

Perspective means the people we love KNOW we love them whether the holiday gets celebrated or not. It doesn’t matter if we buy the right thing or decorate to meet expectations; we love and care for them and they know it. We make it a priority to put all the media hype and promotional items in perspective; they may be a nice reminder, but they fade away over time. They are examples of our love and affection, but not the only way we communicate our emotions. If we only gave a hug or a smile, or a text, or a simple something we made the people we love would know it no matter what.

Maybe the challenge is that we don’t tell people how we feel throughout the year because then we would have to deal with our tender side, our emotions, or be vulnerable. We would have to face how much they mean to us, and how much we care. We would have to face the fact that time is not always on our side and expressing our true feelings acknowledges that none of us knows what will happen tomorrow. But isn’t that why we should be honest with ourselves and those we care for and let them know how much we care? We don’t need a special day or flower petals spread on the ground; we need to let the people that are special to us know they are special no matter what the day or date.

There is another holiday coming up soon. Take that opportunity to express how you feel, even if it means buying nothing. Sometimes a hug says it all, and there are no holiday leftovers.