Everywhere I look around.

Love is in the air

Every sight and every sound.

— John Paul Young

Well, every business that sells diamonds, greeting cards, candy, flowers and romantic dinners want you to believe that “love is in the air.”

Valentine’s Day is Thursday; a day of romance and Cupid’s arrow finding a heart.

Love is in the air.

For people that are alone, or have recently lost a loved one, maybe not so much.

A search of the Internet says the history of Valentine’s Day (and the story of its patron saint ) is shrouded in mystery. We do know that February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St. Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. But who was Saint Valentine and how did he become associated with this ancient rite?

Do we really care?

When I think of Valentine’s Day, I think of that cute girl with long hair that sat in front of me in Tom Kite’s English class.

She was not a cheerleader but a baton twirler which still amazes me.

If you would ask my high school classmates, especially those that didn’t run around with me, I wasn’t the most likeable guy back then.

One person called me a “peacock” because I strutted around the high school halls.

My peacock caller didn’t know that I have one leg about one inch shorter than the other which is why my walk looked like a peacock but I will not argue that I probably wasn’t going to win any Mr. Personality Award.

And why this lovely lady had any interest in me, I still don’t know.

The first date went something like this. The senior class of 1974 was planning a trip to Milford Lake on Memorial Day of our junior year.

I called this person up on a rotary dial phone.

“Hey, you know the trip to the lake Monday? Can we bring a date?”

“Well, I SUPPPOSE so,” she said.

“You want to come along with me?” I asked, or something like that.

Now, I know that it was my subtle way of asking her to go with me. She thought she was going to go with me AND my date and I was just volunteering to be one of the drivers for the group.

I never claimed to be a classy guy.

And what she doesn’t know is that she is the best thing to ever happen to me and the reason you are reading this today.

I wish I knew what she is doing now.

JUST KIDDING!

I wouldn’t call her a cheap date but, yeah, she was.

We spent our summers riding bicycles. I would load up my antique bike into the back of my 1949 Chevy pickup, another antique, and bring it to town to ride around.

During the winters we went “shopping” at ALCO. Hey, in the 1970s, ALCO in Abilene was the Mall of America. Of course, we had no money.

Around midnight we parked in a stall at A & W (you thought I was going to say something else, didn’t you?) and ordered hot chocolate. That is why the windows always fogged over.

One of our first dates was to the movie Doctor Zhivago. The movie was so long my mustache grew and almost drew blood when I kissed her goodnight.

I married that cute girl many, many years ago and, unlike most couples our age, we are still together (at least until she reads this).

So here’s a Valentine’s card to my wife Kathy, and oh, by the way. . . I have to work Thursday night.