Foremost in my mind was a rehash of the previous night's fun run. I am only in my second month of fun run director for the local running club, so I still feel I am trying to learn my way around the job. Our February fun run happened to be at an Irish Pub in Oshkosh, b'gosh. The run went well, although I didn't run it. I sat around talking to the Brooks rep who drove in from Minnesota to outfit runners in sample shoe stock and sipped a beer while everyone ran. I was okay with that. I had run 14 miles the day before, and the last thing I really wanted to do was head out onto the slippery roads in the dark in a strange town.
So, instead, I enjoyed my Smithwicks (a nod to the Irish Pub), handled the drink ticket distribution and made sure our food got served. It was a hard job. We had a good turnout - especially for February - and everyone seemed to have a good time. I wonder, though, if I should have worked harder to incorporate the Valentine's Day theme into the mix. Food for thought for next year.
Speaking of Valentine's Day - Happy Valentine's Day! If you are like me then surely you are shaking your head at all the hoopla that surrounds this pseudo holiday. Now, I am no curmudgeon. I love getting handmade cards from my kids telling me how much they love me, and I enjoy too the card and flowering plant that my husband gets me.
What I don't get, though, are all the Facebook greetings from businesses near and far wishing me a happy Valentine's Day. For a day that is reserved for love, it just seems odd to me to be wished a Happy Valentine's Day from a business. Then there are the sales.... As if we don't have enough excuses over the course of a year to buy and consume, we also need to be enticed on this love-soaked holiday? And, it's not even the typical chocolates, flowers, jewelry and greeting cards businesses. Those I get. But, clothing retailers? Sports drink makers? Airlines? I don't know. It just seems weird to me.
I can't bring myself to go so far as to NOT celebrate Valentine's Day. I do have friends who take that line, reasoning that you should be showing love to the people in your life throughout the year, not just on February 14. I get that, too. But, what the hell. I like an excuse to buy chocolate and do something a bit special and out of the ordinary as much as the next person. So, why not Valentine's Day? After all, it's not like I will go out of my way to order a heart-shaped pizza just any day of the year. You know? Also, there are not a lot of days out of the year that I can justify spending almost $20 on a box of locally made, dark chocolate and sea salt covered caramels. Just saying.
Finally, as a final thought on Valentine's Day. I can't think of Valentine's Day without thinking of Punch. It was seven years ago today that we welcomed a crazy, ill-behaved, fun-loving, trouble-making big lug of a dog into our homes. Punch was a rescue pup and even though he drove us crazy, we loved him very much. Sadly, he died of an aggressive form of cancer only four years later. I still miss him. The fact that I associate Valentine's Day with him is apt, as I don't think any creature could have taught me the value of not sweating the little things so much and to love everyone like he did. I just wish I had learned that lesson a little sooner, so I wasn't left with the lingering feeling that all I ever did was yell at him in exasperation. Poor dog. He made some bad choices, but to love everyone (and I mean everyone!) with his whole heart wasn't one of them. Miss you, you crazy dog.
No comments:
Post a Comment