As Valentine’s Day approaches, I’m thinking of all of my widowed friends. Valentine’s Day has got to be the cruelest of all holidays to someone who has had the love of their life unexpectedly ripped out of their life! For days (sometimes weeks) leading up to it, there are commercials, aisles in every store and radio advertisements for gifts, cards, candy, flowers, even jewelry to buy for the one you love. There’s one thing they don’t advertise, however: flower arrangements for the cemetery! What about those of us whose loves are in the ground? What are we supposed to do on this day for lovers? It’s as if we don’t exist. We’re not surprised by this, though, since we’re often the forgotten ones as the world continues to exist around us and our world feels so broken.
A widowed friend of mine once told me that she wears purple for Valentine’s Day because everywhere she looks there is pink and red but PURPLE is the color for those of us who know better! We KNOW that love is more than chocolates and flowers. We KNOW that love lasts much longer than a silly holiday. We KNOW the pain of losing the one we love and we KNOW the STRENGTH it takes to get out of bed and face another day without him.
While everyone else gets to “prove” their love to their significant other on this ONE day, we KNOW it happens every single day because life is so short. In the blink of an eye, life changes. Since we have suffered a life altering, heart wrenching, soul tearing loss, we will never again take love for granted. This is the gift of loss. Yes, I said it: the GIFT of loss. In the midst of this heartache and pain, there is a gift. When love comes knocking on our door again, we can love deeper and more appreciatively than before our loss. I know it’s hard to ever imagine loving again if you are new in your loss but when your heart heals, if you open it up again, there is room for more love. It’s like having more than one child. You don’t stop loving your first child, you just love the second child AND the first child. This is how we love more than one man in this long life of ours.
Now that I am remarried, Valentine’s Day is just another day for me. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy chocolate, a loving card and a nice dinner as much as anyone! However, if my husband is working or we are too busy to celebrate Valentine’s Day, it’s ok by me. I love him so much more each and every day because I KNOW that every day could be my last day with him. I take every chance I can to let him know how much he is appreciated and loved so that Valentine’s Day has lost it’s power over us – it’s just another day on the calendar. So what will I do on February 14th? I will wear PURPLE, I will get my children some chocolates, I will get my husband a card and I might even take some flowers to the cemetery to thank Steve for teaching me the true meaning of love. I encourage you to spend the day taking care of you and celebrating the love you have for those in your life. If I see you in PURPLE, I will know that we are sisters in widowhood too.
Widow Plus Three 