Spreading the Love...I mean Quilt

On Valentine's Day...
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I spread out the quilt and covered it with lots of pink and red. Then, I went to gather up some folks.
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Keeping Things Light
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I have to be a little  cautious when we start sharing stories about Valentine's Day.  So many have lost special loved ones.  Emotions can surface easily.  Instead, we laughed a lot and  remembered famous couples and songs  about love...and Romantic movie titles...

​Valentines
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​We all shared stories about exchanging Valentines, as kids. Of few of us remembered carrying home decorated shoeboxes stuffed with colorful cards and the occasional lollipop.

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How I hated Valentine's Day, by the time I got to high school. I rolled my eyes when I passed the popular girls carrying carnations and heart shaped boxes. They always acted like it was no big deal.
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​Music!
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We did a little "Name that Tune" with some old Beatles' love songs.  I can't believe how many there are!
 
And then we made a little music...as close to what the cupids might make with their harps!   A zither is one of those instruments you can't go wrong with.  Everyone could pluck or strum a nice sounding piece!

Hugs...candy...poems
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We talked about other kinds of love.  Love between parents and children, people and pets, friends and siblings...and how people express their caring... with hugs...or words.

​Our Own Poem
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​"Poems are easy!" I assured the group.  When I was 8, I stacked up 101 pieces of notebook paper and wrote on the title page, "100 Poems by Beth Meyer". 

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And I plunged in to work!  I will admit, they were pretty lame poems, but  I used the same determination to get our group of 8 to come up with words for a love poem.  Harriet thought up the title, "Heart to Heart" and we went forth.   We only had a few disagreements about whether to rhyme or not...or if using the word "never" in our poem was too negative.   I was hollering over the group like an auctioneer..."Give me a word that rhymes with heart!!  Come on, come on!"    I don't think "Love Poems" are meant to be written by more than one person...but I'll say we did a pretty good job! ​

What I learned on Valentine's Day

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Even though I kept things light, I still heard a lot of stories from both my groups on Valentine's Day.  I was told about some special gifts, some crushes, a Valentine's dance...and one sad story shared privately. And as  corny as it sounds, those stories were my gifts on Valentine's Day. Stories last a lot longer than candy. ​