I expected to feel alone or empty a lot of today. I actually did at certain parts of the day. Texting my friends and seeing how many people I wasn’t seeing on the day of love made me a touch sad.

However, an amazing thing happened in the late morning. It started earlier in the day but it just grew and grew to the point that it’s a full blown thing now.

I found out today that when one is secure in their love for themselves and is secure in the love that they have from their friends and family, Valentine’s Day is the greatest holiday. I have seen so many beautiful examples of love today. So many. I’m blown away.

I thought for sure that it would cause me to be bitter. So freaking bitter. But apparently the lessons and the journey I was on two years ago when I was sad and heartbroken and I worked on myself stuck (or is sticking right now).

I love love. Y’all know this. This year I’m single but I’m basking in the love that others are showing each other because of a simple reason. I now know, without a doubt, that just because I don’t have a Valentine doesn’t mean I am not loved. In fact, today I was shown love by so many friends and colleagues that I would argue it’s almost on the level of my friend Valentine’s Day I had last year.

Love, the essence of it all, is the most beautiful thing. Yes, I’m a hair tipsy, I’ll admit it. I am also binge watching the best Ben and Leslie episodes of Parks and Recreation. On top of it, last night, I caught up on New Girl and the last episode was Cece and Schmidt’s wedding. It might have been the most beautiful wedding. On par with Ben and Leslie’s wedding for sure, which is my favorite. Caring about people has to be in the top 5 reasons we are here. We exist for it. I am sure of it. Seeing it on Instagram today solidified for me how beautiful it is. Michelle and Barack blew me away. A friend got engaged.

I thank God. I want to thank God in this moment for the heartbreaks. For the madness. For the ability to look at a day of love and not be sad. I am about as grateful for that as I am about the actual love.

For those of you who have stayed on this journey with me, thank you. Thank you for going on this exploration of relationships and love with me.

Happy Valentine’s Day, loves!

-m

p.s. My Valentine’s Day playlist is here….give it a listen if you want some whimsy…