Valentine’s Day – Does Romance Still Exist?

The origin of St. Valentine’s Day is as clouded as why we “celebrate” it. Everyone knows February 14 is a day set aside to show our affection for someone. Certainly there are other official days during the year meant for this purpose. The difference is;the affection is expected to be shown in a romantic way. Right away you can tell the continuance of this ritual is not driven by men. HA What is not known by many is the theory of how the whole thing got started.

Interestingly enough, the observance of this day has its roots in religion, as well as paganism.On the religious side it is said to be based on the martyred Saint Valentine. Around
270 AD ( I was in high school at the time) Claudius the Cruel ruled the Roman empire. It was his contention that a strong army could not be built around married men. He declared marriage & engagements against the law. St Valentine was caught marrying couples, and was sentenced to die. He was clubbed to death, and beheaded about 278 AD. Legend has it, he befriended the jailer’s daughter, & wrote her a farewell note signed, “From your Valentine”

On the pagan side, it’s origin is loosely based on the Feast of Lupercalia. This celebration was meant as a fertility ritual. The first part of the ritual was striking women with a thong* made of goatskin.( Perhaps the original ‘thong’ HA!) During the second part, girls’ names were put in a box, then drawn out by the boys, thus pairing them off until the next feast. I think the same principle exists with internet dating. Ha! In 496 AD Pope Gelasius put an end to the feast, and renamed it, St. Valentine’s Day. An interesting side note: The thong used in in the ritual was called a ‘februa’ which eventually gave the month of February its name.

The answer to the question “ Does romance still exist”, lies within us all individually. If you look at Valentine’s Day as an expensive chore we MUST do to keep, and or continue sex with your mate…romance does not exist. If you look at it as another special opportunity to show someone how much they mean to you…romance is alive & well.

The gift you give your love interest speaks volumes as to whether or not romance, & genuine feelings, exist between you. If you’re swearing at traffic on your way to a convenience store to buy some flowers, & you believe St. Valentine’s fate was better….romance does not exist for you. ( Along with your relationship )

If your thoughts for an appropriate gift begin a few weeks before Feb. 14 then you’re on the other side of the coin. As a man you have been listening to the little clues women put out there as to what gesture will make make them feel wanted. We as men don’t put out “clues” per say, but a good woman will know what to get their man. If you put out a genuine effort to please your mate….romance does exist for you, & so will he, or she.

As is everything else in life, the way you handle your St. Valentine’s Day is a choice. If you make the wrong decision, don’t be surprised if the Facebook status under “in a relationship” changes.

To all you single, or soon to be single girls, I ask with much affection…Will you be my ‘Superpimpette’ valentine?!

Till next time………

– SP

P.S. Meanwhile, here’s some lessons some guys learned the hard away:

The Slick Silver Suit

Slick Silver Suit
People ask me what my mind set is when I look for a new suit. Most of the time I have nothing specific guiding me other than, ‘ I’ll know it when I see it ‘ Occasionally, something will come to me before I start, such as a color, or style. At that point, I’ll look until I find what was in my mind’s eye. What is extremely rare is when it seems to happen by fate. This is unmistakably the case with this suit.

The place I buy the majority of my suits is quite a distance. (Can’t tell ya cuz then I’d have to kill ya ) 😀 On this particular day, I just happened to be out that way & thought I would stop & talk to the owner. Well… it just wouldn’t be me if I didn’t ask him if suit came in that was my style. As it turned out, one of his suppliers had sent out one sample suit. The owner was going to send it back thinking it wouldn’t sell. Soon as I saw it I knew it had to be mine; so I rescued it from going back to the ‘ pound ‘ with no home. : )

Here are the other reasons why it had to be fate: 1) As I stated earlier, there was only the one suit & it just happened to be my size ( Suit was discontinued ) 2) It was in the back, ready for return to the supplier. Number three is the real clincher. Less than two weeks later, the band ‘ Iphonic’ asked me to be in their music video “Stand Up”. The script called for me to arrive in a DeLorean ( the car in the movie ‘Back To The Future’ ) It is made of stainless steel, which of course gives it the silver metallic look. As you will see in the video & pics I’m posting, this suit looks like a magnet would stick to it. How perfect is that? Fate I say.

The thing will always remember about this suit is how exciting and fun it was to shoot this video. How could working with the guys from the ‘ greatest party band in the land’ not be a blast? On top of that, I had the opportunity to be part of the creative process in my first music video. How cool is that???!!! I consider myself to be a very fortunate person. Till next time…………….

– SP

Check out the music video….Very entertaining & will lift your spirits…ENJOY!