When you lose someone you start evaluating what's important to you. You think about how easy it is to take them for granted. And you wonder whether you let them know how much their friendship meant to you. Losing a friend (dog or person) makes you realize how precious life is. Every day should be Valentine's.

It's not about roses, candle light dinners, chocolates, or even cards. It's about making someone feel cherished and special. The real story of St. Valentine's is not about hearts and flowers. Some might find it downright depressing.

During the fourth century B.C., Romans engaged in an annual young man's rite of passage to the God Lupercus. Teenage women's names were placed in a box and drawn randomly by adolescent men. These men were then assigned a sexual partner for the duration of the year. After that another lottery was staged.

Pope Gelasius attempted to do away with the pagan ceremony by replacing the names of young women with that of saints. Both men and women were expecting to draw from the box, and expected to emulate the ways of the saints for the rest of the year.

The Church decided to look for a suitable patron saint to take the place of the pagan god Lupercus. St. Valentine, a bishop, was a likely choice. Valentine believed in love and marriage and met with young lovers in a secret place to join them in the sacrament of matrimony. Emperor Claudius II, had issued an edict forbidding marriage because he felt that married men made poor soldiers as they were emotionally attached to their families. When Claudius found out about Valentine he was thrown in jail and condemned to death.

Later, the mid-February holiday turned into one where young Romans offered women they admired and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection. That day is February 14th.

Now there you have it.

Cherish the one you're with and spice up your love life with a good book!

Romantically Yours,

Marcia King-Gamble
Editor -- Romantically Yours
www.lovemarcia.com