This story is about truth, beauty, freedom; but above all things, this story is about love
“Will you be my Valentine?” I asked my 3-year-old Godson whose large brown eyes, bright, curious, enigmatic smile and wet tousled hair falling across his face made him utterly adorable. He had just had a bath and was running around the house in his underwear full of energy.

“Sure!” He answered smiling handing me a Valentine heart candy that said ‘Be Mine’ that he had just picked up off the floor.

“Thank you baby.” I replied taking the candy.

The five-second rule definitely applies when your Godson pours the entire jar of Valentine heart candies on the carpet because they were too hard to get out of the jar with his little hands.

“More candy?” He asked holding out a hand full of Valentine hearts.

Who could resist such a sweet gift from such a sweet little boy? I thought taking the candy as he climbed in my lap and locked his arms around my neck in a tight grip. I held him close. In my head I heard Ewan McGregor in Moulin Rouge singing: “How wonderful life is now you’re in the world...”

After a long week spent sifting through the ugliness of love gone bad, helping my cousin prepare for a court battle, such innocence was refreshing and worth fighting for.

“Love you Lena!” He proclaimed squeezing my neck tighter.

“I love you too baby!”

Ahhhh love. The emotion of sex and romance and yet so very much more, the deepest emotion there is. Love. That thing we all long for, search for, live for, die for. Love. Above all things I believe in love. Toulouse-Lautrec understood everything when he screamed from the rafters of the Moulin Rouge: “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return!”

In a house with the word FREEDOM written across a placard and hung on the front door, Toulouse’s lesson seemed a hard one indeed. Here new love grew… but would it survive the machinations and the vindictive games of the love story that came before?

In the house called Freedom, I spoke with Sticker about love. We spoke about gondolas and romance. About a love that was over before it had even begun. I was falling fast once upon a time… I remembered.

“Why are you giving me such a hard time?” Sticker asked.

“Because I can!” I exclaimed. Love gave me that right. I thought laughing. Love is a tango after all…

That was then, and now it was Valentine’s Day… I’d been so busy wading through someone else’s love-gone-wrong mess, I’d had no time to get depressed about Valentine’s Day. In fact I felt ok about it. I now knew how important it was to love yourself before you can truly love someone else. Something Julie Unplugged’s beautiful and insightful prose reminds me of daily. Most of the time I feel like she’s writing a letter to me, instead of a blog to the world.

“Are you going to do anything tonight?” A friend wrote me yesterday inquiring about my Valentine’s Day plans.

“I don’t have any plans… was thinking about watching Moulin Rouge, I love that movie.” I responded.

“Oh how fun. I am thinking that I will not be watching Moulin Rouge tonight or anytime soon. If I watch that movie, it will have to be for another reason than the movie itself.” He adamantly explained.

“hahaha…” I wrote amused.

“I was picturing the scene from A Clockwork Orange when they have his eyes propped open while he has to watch disturbing images.” He explained further.

“Funny! Really… hilarious! I know now just how to torture you.” I wrote smiling.

One of my favorite movies of all time was ‘disturbing images’ to someone else. Was it the music, the singing, the dancing, the costumes, the colors, the bohemians, the romantic style, the sweeping romance or was it the love story? What made Moulin Rouge so disturbing to him when I absolutely loved it? I wondered. When Ewan McGregor sings… I fall in love! I couldn’t imagine someone else having such an opposite reaction to the film.

I stopped at See’s Candy (Valentine’s Day central station) to pick up a few treats for my friends. I stood in line with sweaty men buying last minute Valentine’s gifts. They still wore their dirt stained work clothes, unwilling to go home without a present for their Valentine. Ahhh Chocolate... the food of love. I stood there breathing in the aroma of love mixed with men’s sweat and I was struck by the oddity of it all when my phone suddenly rang.

“What are you doing?” A dear friend asked.

“I’m at the store.” I replied.

“We’re all going out for ice cream do you want to go?” He asked.

“I thought you’d be busy tonight, it’s Valentine’s Day.” I replied.

“Valentine’s Day is for friends and family!” He exclaimed.

“Come over.” He requested.

“Ok.” I replied.

This is what it’s all about… not the commercialism or the stigma of coupledom, no, not that. It’s just about love. I thought. And love comes in many forms…

When I went home... Johnny Depp greeted me at the door. On my doorstep was a box from Amazon.com, inside the box was two Johnny Depp movies to add to my collection. I put on Moulin Rouge and fell asleep to Ewan McGregor singing about love.

Good friends, ice cream, chocolate, Ewan McGregor and Johnny Depp for Valentine’s Day… love never felt more right.  posted by Matildakay at 11:26 PM