2024 Wednesday — A Favorite Holiday

I could say this is my favorite holiday, but then I’d say that about the next one. I love celebrating. Nothing banishes a bad mood or a bunch of boredom quicker than a fun holiday.

This fun book of poems has been a favorite since, I think, winter of 2009 when I found it in a Pacific Grove bookstore while we spent several days of vacation in the Monterey, CA, area. The story of how the book came to be fascinates me. Ted Kooser wrote a poem in 1986, and what I believe is that he needed an audience; so, he mailed the poem to fifty women friends. Twenty-one years later his mailing list had grown to 2,500 recipients. What fun that must have been for Kooser to write a new poem each year to send thru the mail. But 2,500 — egads! — turned these poems into a book.

Yes, I am fascinated by that. So each year I mail Valentine cards to the friends whose addresses I have and hope that their receiving them is more fun than foolish, more of a comfort than another piece of clutter. Maybe a poke at penetrating the loneliness that I think each of us is more aware of than we admit. So this act is considerably more than candy and hearts. Most certainly it is fun.

And it is ridiculous that the cards cost less than the postage. That reminds me, though, of the value I hold in my hand when I pull a card from the mailbox down on the street in front of my house, walk it upstairs, unseal the envelope, and enjoy the relationship that bursts from its contents.

And now it is time to embrace the book one last time for this current season, then gently pack it in a plastic tub with the heart-shaped decorations in my new storage room till eleven months from now when I’ll enjoy them again.

Happy Hearts Day!
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol
and Chloe & Mitzi too!