A LOVEly Day Indeed

Hello once again dear friends!

February 14th is, obviously, Valentine's Day (or, depending on your current life situation, maybe Singles Awareness Day). Admittedly, despite St. Valentine's historical existence and the emphasis on love and other such sentiments, today's holiday is basically a commercial one. Red and pink balloons, cards, and assorted stuffed creatures take over pretty much every store out there, and romantic commercials launch a similar invasion of every television channel.

But I promise I'm not trying to be all bitter and cynical. Really. Despite all the aforementioned craziness, and despite the fact that technically I didn't have a "valentine" per se, today was such a lovely day! (See what I did there? Lovely? Valentines Day = love...) I woke up nice and early Valentine's morning at St. A's because PSF hosted Room In the Inn there the night of the 13th. After helping cook breakfast and clean up (I was on biscuit duty), I headed back to the Shed until my usual Monday lunch in the Commons (Vandy's Hogwarts-esque dining hall).

Thennnn Decker (fellow PSF intern) and I walked to Ben & Jerry's to celebrate the beautiful weather. There I was walking down 21st in my "Have You Hugged a Presbyterian Today?" t-shirt when all of a sudden this random woman walks up and says "I'm gonna hug a Presbyterian, because I'm Presbyterian too!" Of course then we hugged. Literally, it made my day. We went on our merry way and got some ice cream, after which I proceeded to park myself in Centennial Park within sight of the Parthenon. A glorious couple of hours were spent soaking up some Vitamin D, reading, doodling, and people watching. A staff meeting later I was back at the Shed for a heart shaped pizza from Papa Johns (an excellent use of community money if you ask me...) with the roommates. Back to work for the PSF interfaith study I've been planning (Greek Orthodoxy was the name of the game tonight) and now I'm home for good! At least until tomorrow.

Not a bad place to spend the afternoon.

I'm quite certain it was completely unnecessary for me to share this play-by-play of my day with the internet world. But the whole day I was just thinking about how incredibly content I felt. I mean nothing super remarkable happened but it was such a lovely day. And then I started thinking...what if it doesn't even matter if you have a certain special someone to be your valentine? I figured spending the day doing things I love was just as acceptable as spending it with a person I love. So off I went, sharing some love and breakfast, eating ice cream, being outside, and enjoying some pizza too. A lovely day, indeed.

Love,
Allison