What’s Love Got to Do With It?

Returning guest blogger Sunny Frazier, whose first novel in the Christy Bristol Astrology Mysteries, Fools Rush In, received the Best Novel Award from Public Safety Writers Association, is here today with her thoughts on romance, Valentine’s Day and the ubiquitous Valentine’s Day cards.

The third Christy Bristol Astrology Mystery, A Snitch in Time, is in bookstores now.

sunny69@comcast.net   //  http://www.sunnyfrazier.com

I don’t know Tina Turner, I’ve been asking myself that for years. Now it’s that time again. Cupids with their arrows of love and hearts that never get broken (eaten perhaps). Men forgetting to order flowers until February 14 and then scrambling to find a florist at the last minute. Going out to dinner at a place that doesn’t have a drive-through.

I’m happily single. I’ve done the ritual many times with many dates, usually an awkward disappointment. At 65 I leave all that to younger women who crave the romance. They see it on soap operas, reality TV and in movies. They want the knight in shining armor to ride up and sweep them away for their happily ever after.

So, how did the execution of a saint turn into romance and presents? You can put much of the blame on Geoffrey Chaucer and his love poems in the 1300’s. Britain upped the ante in the 1700’s by offering words of love in a handy book, encouraging men to create their own cards.  Apparently that was too much work because by the 1800’s cards were being manufactured. Now, in America alone, over 190 million cards are sent—and that doesn’t include the cards school kids exchange. No wonder Valentine’s Day has been tagged “Hallmark Holiday.”

The relationships I treasure these days are the ones with other women my age. They are smart, funny and they cut loose when they leave their husbands at home. We do lunch, we do tea. We bare our souls to each other. We offer advice or just an ear to listen. My friends are always there for me and have proven it many times.

While other couples dress up, deal with traffic and weather, I will be cuddled up in a comforter,  a cup of tea, a good book and a cat or two. Maybe I’ll order delivery, buy myself some flowers and treat myself to my favorite chocolates. If that knight in shining armor rides up on his white stead, I’m gonna lock the door and call the cops.