I Corinthians 13:

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not conceited,
⁵ does not act improperly, is not selfish, is not provoked, and does not keep a record of wrongs.

⁶ Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth.
⁷ It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
^8A Love never ends.
¹³ Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”

 (said Aibiline Clark, the maid, to little Mae Mobley Leefolt) 

February has found us all ready!  February, the shortest month of the year, is filled to the brim with special days.  Black History Month, American Heart Month, and Library Month, Groundhog’s Day, The Super Bowl, Presidents’ Day and Presidential birthdays, Spunky Old Broads’ Day, National Visit A Shut-in Day, Leap Day, Freelance Writers’ Appreciation Week, International Friendship Week, along with many others special days all share their glory in the month of February.  My favorite day of the month falls in the middle on the 14^th – yes, Valentine’s Day. A little Googling or chacha-ing* will lead you to the story of St. Valentine.  Here is a quick link:   http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day

I confess, that in my youth, if there was no one to shower me flowers, chocolates and sweet nothings, I would mope around with a long face each year around St. Valentine’s Day.  That all changed in college, with the help of an intermittent job. I was blessed with the privilege of delivering flowers for a floral shop in Altus on the “flower-sending” holidays of the year, such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, etc.  What could be more fun than delivering bright bouquets of cheer and love to someone’s sweetie?

The enlightening part of this job was discovering who the sweeties were.  While many were the standard girlfriend-wife-mother variety, just as many proved to be sweethearts of a different variety.  Brothers would surprise sisters, students sweetened the day for favorite teachers, and more recently, with a little help from Ann Landers, our veterans in the VA hospitals receive countless Valentines.  Most of these to/from combinations still fall in the normal category, but along the delivery path, I discovered a few out-of-the ordinary sweethearts.  Bosses surprised employees, employees showed appreciation for wonderful bosses, some treated mentors to a sweet surprise.

The best surprise turned out to be the folks who took time to seek out the widows and widowers of the community, along with that very special group of people that I lovingly call “our other Mom” or our “2^nd Mom”.  These folks are the special people in one’s life that are most likely close in age to your own parents, and might even be related to you.  They are the ones that are always there for you.  They are the ones that you can confide in, even when you can’t talk to your own parents.

Over the years, the Lord has blessed me with several such “extra” parents.  Two were Sunday school teachers, a couple were also aunts, two were deacons (these two were men and father-figures), and a few cousins.  As I was writing this month’s blog, at this point I veered off and wrote solely about one particular “Other Mother” in my life.  The part I wrote about Lamoin, a true Red Dirt Heroine, turned out to be so long, that it will be a separate blog, posted in a future month, perhaps May for Mother’s Day.

Four years of college gave me an accounting degree, and a means to support myself, but it took a temporary job delivering flowers to open my mind and heart to whole other way of supporting someone thru loving kindness.  As you prepare to send sweet nothings to your sweetheart this year, take time to think about those other sweethearts in your life.  Surprise them with a little token of your love and appreciation.  You will be surprised at the sheer joy you will get from doing this simple act of kindness.

So long for now, have a sweet February!

~Southwest Sara

Sources:

For February holidays:  http://www.brownielocks.com/february.html

The Help, p 234, by ― Kathryn Stockett, author © 2011

Scriptures are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible

Ann Landers VAlentine Project:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-01-21/features/9001060423_1_valentines-dear-ann-landers-medical-centers

*Chacha-ing – a favorite activity of students with cell phones.  If you have a question about anything, text your question to “Cha Cha” or 242242.  In response you will receive the answer, along with an advertisement or two via txt msg.  There is no charge for the service, only your own cell-plan fees for texting.

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