Monday, 13 February 2017

Here's to not losing your head this Valentine's Day

I had grand plans this Valentine's Day. I was qoing to book the squillion dollar dinner and go full romance under twinkling lights at The Grounds. However, just before I booked, a note came home saying meet the teacher was on that night. How deranged! Given some of the teachers are young, why would they want to do that? So we will be having a super romantic night in a classroom on little seats talking about maths and projects. Fabulous! I know, don't be jealous! My amazing 'in your face' lifestyle knows no bounds.

The story of St Valentine is a little different to what you might expect. One version is he married young lovers against the wishes of Claudius II and got his head lopped off. Another version is Claudius wanted everyone to worship 12 Roman Gods but Valentinus stuck with his Christian beliefs. While in jail he restored eyesight to the janitor's blind daughter (thus the sainthood) and on the eve of his execution, sent her a farewell note telling her to keep her faith in God and signing off 'From your Valentine'.

Apparently the almond tree is the symbol of love and friendship but slightly impractical so at a guess, that's how the roses and chocolates came in. I guess you could chuck in a pack of almonds if you wanted to be 'traditional'.

My Valentine's Day wish to you all, single or committed, is this:

“A purpose of human life, no matter who is controlling it, is to love whoever is around to be loved.” 
― Kurt Vonnegut, The Sirens of Titan

So ditch the hate and share some love towards the refugees, the poor, the homeless, the LBGTQI community (Liberal party, let's show them we respect their love and let them get married!), those of a different religion, those of a different skin colour, those who are different. Let's ignore the lead by the countries fueling hate and show them that we are better than that. Let's lead by example.

Lastly, I leave you with this ad. No affiliation but I can't believe in 2017 people are scared to hold hands. Shame on us.




 Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend. 
Martin Luther King, Jr.

 Happy Valentine's Day, everyone.

Linking with #AwwMondays
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33 comments:

  1. Unknown13 February 2017 at 11:58

    Happy Valentine's Day!! Enjoy your parent / teacher evening ;) I love those quotes and that clip is extremely powerful too. I've not seen it before.

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  2. Unknown13 February 2017 at 12:07

    Love this Lydia.

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  3. Cate Brickell13 February 2017 at 12:10

    we had our parent teacher night last night, my kids would have been horrified if it was tonight, they're a bit hyped up about Valentine's Day!

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  4. RJ Bowyer13 February 2017 at 12:35

    Ha ha. We've got a school info night tonight at 6.30. We've booked Mum to babysit and we're going out for dinner afterwards!

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  5. Unknown13 February 2017 at 13:47

    Beautiful post Lydia- happy Valentine's Day!

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  6. Sammie @ The Annoyed Thyroid13 February 2017 at 13:47

    So much to love about this post except the bit about parents' night. I think there would have been mutiny from both my fellow teachers and the parents if my boss ever had the balls to schedule parents' night on Valentine's! I heart those quotes hard and that movie clip made me feel so emo. Shame on us indeed x

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  7. Anonymous13 February 2017 at 17:20

    That's a bit cruel and unusual of your school planning committee! And couldn't agree more with this sentiment. Happy Valentine's day to all.

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  8. Unknown13 February 2017 at 18:26

    Maybe your school is planning a big romantic surprise for you all when you get there? Wishful thinking!

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  9. Coombe Mill - Fiona18 February 2017 at 14:38

    What a lovely Valentine message, I'm much happier with this shared love than the commercial flowers and chocoltes thing. #KCACOLS

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  10. Unknown18 February 2017 at 18:29

    Such an insightful post :)

    #KCACOLS

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  11. thesingleswan19 February 2017 at 07:19

    Parents' evening on Valentines Day? That is the kind of thing I'd like to arrange to reinforce the message that life isn't about grand gestures but little acts of kindness everyday. Pen x #KCACOLS

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  12. Unknown19 February 2017 at 07:23

    what a fab valentines message! we didn't do anything for it this year! Thank you for linking up with #KCACOLS we hope to see you again next time xx

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  13. Leanne @ Deep Fried Fruit19 February 2017 at 12:53

    We need to do more holding hands ...

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  14. Six Little Hearts19 February 2017 at 12:59

    Love how school just infiltrates life!
    I am a marzipan addict. How very Valentine's!

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    1. Lydia C. Lee19 February 2017 at 13:08

      As if that wasn't bad enough, I just discovered I have to go to another meet the teacher on my birthday! ffs! I will be able attend for 30 mins, having to taxi to the school and then taxi into the restaurant in town....argh!

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  15. MintedRogue19 February 2017 at 14:04

    Happy Valentine's Day! Also I love that you used a quote from Kurt Vonnegut. He's one of my favourites :)

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    1. Lydia C. Lee19 February 2017 at 14:28

      I've written a number of posts on the wisdom of Vonnegut. I'm a huge fan. To go through what he did and come out of it so at peace is AMAZING. Very smart man.

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  16. Di from Max The Unicorn19 February 2017 at 14:54

    What a great quote, I hadn't heard it before! Maybe I should read up on Vonnegut? I probably should.

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    1. Lydia C. Lee19 February 2017 at 23:52

      I really loved Slaughterhouse 5 but it isn't everyone's cup of tea. A man without a country is great too.

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  17. Denyse Whelan.19 February 2017 at 21:34

    Gosh those teachers are just not into social lives are they!? Sorry you will have meet the teacher on your birthday! Thanks for linking up for #lifethisweek 8/52. Next Week: Taking Stock.

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  18. Kylie Purtell19 February 2017 at 21:54

    You know I never, not once, ever thought about where valentine's day originated. I can't say I'm a big fan of the day itself, it's never really been on my radar to be honest, but I'm a big fan of this post x
    #teamIBOT

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  19. Linda20 February 2017 at 00:19

    Wonderful quote and message. Strangely, I just saw an episode of Pointless (half an hour ago) on the ABC where Kurt Vonnegut was featured!

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  20. Unknown20 February 2017 at 23:08

    I can't believe they booked teacher parent night on Valentine's!! Its like sending homework to do on Christmas Day....so wrong! The history of most holidays is truly fascinating! I love reading Gail Gibbons books with my kids. #KCACOLS

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  21. Jade TPJ21 February 2017 at 08:55

    Hehe Valentine's on little plastic chairs cracked me up! My partner and don't celebrate it... I drew a heart on a potato as a joke and said it was a love potato. I had no idea on the backstory so am fascinated by that, and the tree symbolism! Really interesting post! Thank you for linking to #stayclassymama xx

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  22. Unknown21 February 2017 at 13:53

    Seems like a pretty crazy date to have a parent-teacher evening! Great post - there's always room to spread a little more love around #KCACOLS

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  23. One Mother Hen21 February 2017 at 17:47

    I love that ad, how fantastic by the ANZ bank.

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  24. Anonymous24 February 2017 at 14:14

    I hope you had a good parent/teacher evening. We don't tend to celebrate Valentine's Day, seeing it as a money making exercise for the card shops, but we did have a nice meal. Thanks for linking up at #fortheloveofBLOG. Claire x

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  25. Madeline25 February 2017 at 05:14

    I love the message behind that video. It really is sad that even now people are scared to hold hands, or worried about what others will think. Love is love. Simple as that. x #KCACOLS

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  26. GorgeousGeorgesMama26 February 2017 at 11:09

    Beautiful quotes. Lovely video. Me and hubs defo don't hold hands hardly anywhere near as much as we did Pre-parenthood. And as for teachers night on valentines! WTF!

    #KCACOLS

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  27. Bread // Queer Little Family27 February 2017 at 13:11

    Great message. I love living where I do - we hold hands all the time with no problems. Well, we did before we had a pushchair! #kcacols

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  28. Nadia - Scandi Mummy1 March 2017 at 13:12

    Hope you still had a good night. We hold hands a lot, I love that. #KCACOLS

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  29. Unknown1 March 2017 at 15:59

    What a strange night to have parents evening, hope you still managed to find some time for romance #KCACOLS

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  30. Sandee12 February 2024 at 12:52

    We need more love in the world. I agree with that.

    I couldn't see the video. It says it's private.

    Thank you for joining the Awww Mondays Blog Hop.

    Have a fabulous Awww Monday and week, Lydia. ♥

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