Happy St. Valentine’s Day!

The day of love isn’t always about candy, flowers, and sweet songs.

Do you know the dark origin of the day of love?

Read on - if you’re curious….

Valentinus (St. Valentine) was a 3rd century Roman priest and physician who later became recognized as the patron saint of lovers, epileptics, an beekeepers.

His story proves that no truly enduring love story is complete without it’s share of drama and suffering.

The Story*

Valentinus was caught and jailed for secretly performing marriage ceremonies for couples in order to spare husbands from being sent to fight in war.

This violated the emperor’s law, as both Christianity and marriage had been strictly prohibited.

Valentinus was thrown in prison, where he fell in love with the jailer’s daughter. In their exchange of love letters, he he would affectionately sign his letters “from your Valentine.”

The jailer became friendly with the new prisoner, and agreed to convert to Christianity if Valentinus could heal his daughter from blindness, which he did.

The jailer and his family converted and were immediately baptized.

This enraged the emperor, who paid Valentinus a visit, where Valentinus even faithfully tried to convert the emperor.

The emperor wasn’t ready to change his beliefs, so he demanded Valentinus be put to death.

Valentinus was reportedly clubbed and beheaded on February 14, 270 CE for standing firm in his faith.

Who said all was fair in love and war?

LOVE LANGUAGE

Thankfully, not all love stories are as tragic as St. Valentine’s.

To avoid unnecessary suffering in relationships, I encourage clients to explore their and their partner’s love languages.

Do you know your love language?

People desire different things.

Knowing your own love language, as well as the love language of those you share your life with, can improve relationships, communication, and happiness.

There are 5 Love Languages:

• Acts of Service

• Receiving Gifts

• Quality Time

• Words of Affirmation

• Physical Touch

Before you take the quiz, explore which love language best reflects how you like to give and receive love.

How does your love language influence your expectations in relationships?

Does it influence how you give to others?

What do you think your partner’s love language is?

If you’d like to take the love language quiz, access it here.

I asked. You answered.

I sent out a recent questionnaire asking people to share their best experiences of romance.

You didn’t disappoint!

• Responses were from people aged 20’s - 70’s.

• Everyone who responded thought romance was either important or very important.

• The responses were equally divided: half think romance is alive and well, half say romance is dead.

Here are a few of your responses to:

The Most Romantic Gift I Ever Received:

• vacation or trip (This was the top response.)

• a cabin getaway

• a tackle box

• a trip to Charleston, SC and a stay at the Middleton Place

• knowing I have a wonderful wife to share time with

• a massage

• housecleaning service

• he planned a sunset rooftop sushi date

• a surprise and secret getaway

• he had an insane amount of flowers delivered to me. It was ridiculous.

• an elegant cigar box

• a trip to Disney

• he sang me a song in public

• day at a spa + night at a hotel

A romantic gesture I’d like to receive:

• Dates, trips, and vacations top the list, by far!

• a trip to a new place

• I’d love an uninterrupted weekend together.

• Try something new or take cooking class

• a vacation

• a home-cooked meal

• A she-shed

• day-pass for the spa

• a trip to Ireland or Costa Rica

• If he would take dance lessons with me.

• a free car!

• to move and build a new phase of our life somewhere we both love, thrive in and enjoy

• weekend getaway in a gorgeous area with my love

Notice a trend? Travel is in high demand!

LOVE SONGS

These are the songs you shared when I asked for:

The Most Romantic Song Ever

• I Want to Know What Love Is - Foreigner

• My Heart Belongs to You - Peabo Bryson

• I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston

• Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley

• Crush - Dave Matthews Band

• No Ordinary Love - Sade

• Breathe - Mickey Blue

• One and Only - Adele

• To A T - Ryan Hurd

• Tantric - Christian Scott

• A Love So Beautiful - Roy Orbison

• On Call - Kings of Leon

• Thinking Out Loud - Ed Sheeran

• Patience - Chris Cornell

• You Make Me Feel So Young - Frank Sinatra

• Run - George Straight

• Soft Place to Fall - Dulcie Taylor

• Love Song - Marcus King

• Simply Beautiful - Jose James

• Lady - Kenny Rogers

• You’re All I Need to Get By - Marvin Gaye + Tammi Terrell

• Messy But Good - B.B. King

• Loving You - Susan Tedeschi

• How Sweet It Is - James Taylor

• No One - Alicia Keys

• Nobody But You - Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani

• Stuck on You - Lionel Richie

• Flowers - Miley Cyrus

Listen to the entire playlist on my YouTube channel here.

SOLO?

No problem! You can still enjoy travel, delicious food, and wonderful company with friends. Or have a solo dance party. Like the song says, “I can buy myself flowers.”

I sincerely appreciate everyone who took the time to share their thoughts on romance, and I hope your day ends better than St. Valentine’s.

from your Valentine,

J

PS - If there’s a song that belongs on the Romance playlist, comment below and I’ll add it!

*References:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Valentine

https://theconversation.com/amp/the-real-st-valentine-was-no-patron-of-love-90518