Valentine’s Day is tomorrow. For some this special occasion is a great celebration of love. For others… this can be a sad and challenging day… with obligatory gifts or sadly anticipating an evening alone and contemplating how to find love in this crazy world.  I know I have been in both places.  For me this is an interesting dynamic...

While Valentine’s Day has been celebrated in the United States for decades, the same was not true for parts of Europe. In this case, my home country of then communist Poland.  Not being familiar with this holiday as a young child or teenager… Valentine’s Day was a bit of a culture shock when I immigrated here to go to university to study business. And as someone who was insanely focused on the business of success… finding a great career… and making lots of money, love also seemed foreign to me at this early stage of my life.
 
I can remember back then all of my girlfriends both getting and giving gifts to their boyfriends and husbands and I sort of felt peer pressure to do the same… another words, the obligatory gift. Valentine’s Day did not have a lot of meaning to me then as I was trying to find my way as a young woman in a new country at the university hoping for an amazing career.

Fast forward to today. As I look back on those days over twenty years ago, I don’t recognize who that young woman even was because love for me today is so much more than my career or money.  Because love means everything to me. And the love I am speaking of is an unconditional love because I believe that loving someone unconditionally is for better and for worse. This love really is true for anyone we care about. Not just a spouse or romantic interest.  So on this special Valentine’s Day weekend… I hope like me… you have someone in your life who you love unconditionally and want to give that gift of love to that person with all your heart. Happy Valentine’s