Parenting Australia

Valentine's Day

Some love to daydream about it. Others wish it would simply by–pass them. Love it or hate it, Valentine's Day is fast approaching. And most of us, regardless of our age or relationship status, will at some point in time over the next 10 days turn our mind to it. Some will be thinking about what to buy their significant other; some will be wondering if their significant other will even remember it’s Valentine's Day. Others will be wishing with all their heart that they meet someone (anyone?!) to spend that day with; while the disheartened among us will resign themselves to the belief that not only will they be alone on the international day of love, but perhaps forever.

Ghania Dib

Valentine's Day is a significant event for me this year. No, not because I’m expecting a big array of red roses or a declaration of love (although come to think of it, either of those would be nice!) but rather because for the first time in over a decade I am single and happy. (Allow me to digress while I clarify one point - I am not happy because I am single. Nor am I single because I am happy. It just so happens that I am both single AND happy, a concept the wider population seems to have some difficulty grasping.)

Where does that leave me when it comes to Valentine's Day? Am I, in all my happiness and singledom, wishing and hoping that I’d get to spend it with a special someone? Or am I, like a number of singles I know, vehemently dreading the day?

To be honest, it’s neither for me. And that is most of all surprising to myself because this is my first Valentine's Day after separating from my ex-husband – a.k.a, my first Valentine's Day ALONE!!

My prior expectation would have been that I’d be among the disheartened, cynically questioning the existence of love and its endurance over time (I have after all had a ‘failed’ 8 year marriage). There may have been a vision of myself moping on Valentine's Day, perhaps wishing it didn’t exist, cursing my unlucky stars.

Thankfully, nothing could be further from the truth.

Simply stated, my view this year is that Valentine's Day represents hope. Hope that love will forever continue to embrace the hearts of young and old. Hope that there is such a thing as an enduring endless love. And hope that at some point in the future I too will be spending Valentine's with someone I cherish and love.

It also represents joy; the giddy expressions and expectations of lovers spending Valentine's Day together; the smiles of teenage girls who just received their first Valentine; the comfort and security felt by long term couples as they mark yet another milestone in their enduring relationship.

Valentine's Day is about so much more than roses and chocolates. Beyond its commercial exploitations, Valentine's Day is still simply what it was always intended to be - a world wide celebration of love in all its forms. A day when we can all reflect on and be thankful for past lovers and love; a day to be grateful for the current forms of love in our lives and a day to be hopeful about an even stronger presence of love in our future.

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Ghania Dib is a mother to 3 children – Isaac, Mariam and Maya. She combines being a stay at home mother with working as a blogger, lawyer and journalist from her home office. She loves being a mother and sees it as an opportunity to explore her own inner child. There’s nothing she enjoys more than spending her free time playing, dancing and singing with her children and their dog Milo.

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