Warriors=Love

On the eve of a sentimental holiday so many dislike and call commercial may I make a case? Will you Warriors give me the latitude you so often do, to tell you why I think Valentine's Day is sweet? Will you set down tough guy swagger for just a moment and allow me to roll out valid reasons Warriors for Love make the ULTIMATE Valentines?

First off, l gotta admit, I love all of you. It isn't romantic love, but it's real. You Warriors are freaking amazing people. Quality men and women...Leaders in your community...advocates for heart felt beliefs! You are loyal fighters and proud supporters. You are hard workers and deep thinkers.

Face the facts...

YOU are ultimately lovable.

If I could give you all conversation candy hearts yours would say things like FEEL THE POWER, ALWAYS BELIEVE, and LOAD THE ROCKET SHIP, along with REAL WARRIORS WEAR PINK! You would receive from me, handmade hearts edged in lace, remarking on your strength of character, inner determination, and perseverance despite the unceasing obstacles, that in certain seasons, seem to pepper your path. I'd sign them all in pink pen, "ABxo💗d" so you'd know you had a pal in me who believes... always in YOU!!

Valentine's Day isn't just a couple's holiday, although it is lovely in that way too. It is a day, commercially designated, true, that makes you pause to ask what you love and look around at what loves you back. It isn't an indictment, it's an indicator of what you want to invite into your life as the Spring nears. In order to have love you've got to be brave enough to give it. To feel the joy of it you've got to risk the pain. A broken heart is less painful than a contracted one. A life lived without real love is a careful, small, life without pyrotechnics and fireworks!

Don't be meek, mild, or lazy in the way you love others!!!

Be a WARRIOR in all areas of your life...including how you give love to others as a friend, parent, child, husband, wife, significant other or partner in crime. Give fearlessly from that soft place that remembers the delight of foiled wrapped valentine hearts. Return to the bravery and faith you held sacred before life poked that vulnerable place a few too many times.

There are so many literary references to love I could pull from my brain...poems, song lyrics, stories I've heard and ones I've lived. I could pull art from the archives of masters and photographs that capture time standing still. The greatest universal ingredient in all that possesses the power to strum our heartstrings is LOVE. Love is worth the risk, the pain, the angst because every one of us can harken back to a moment it belonged singularly to us. You have to fearlessly give love to receive it. You've got to love so hard you fear your guts might fall out. To have ever truly lived a life you must be that vulnerable. No matter what you ever lose or are forced to let go loving fiercely is a worthy investment. Loving others is what makes you your best and most generous, authentic self. Love is the legacy that lives on beyond your last breath.

I believe in all the ways love is the ULTIMATE POWER. I believe in loving my memories, girls, team, friends, dogs, and future. I believe at the heart of all hate is the confused desire to be loved. I believe Valentine's Day is sweet for more than just the candy. I believe YOU are capable of being a WARRIOR for transformative LOVE today, tomorrow...ALWAYS!

❌⭕️❤️,

Dana

❤️This Valentine's blog is dedicated to everyone I love with all my heart.💜Denise, my best friend, always says I'm the toughest shell with the mushiest center she knows. 💛I play a good game of "it's all good" and "nothing hurts my feelings" but truth is I'm a whirling dervish of nerve endings that feel the electricity of joy and undertow of pain, not just for myself, but for others whether I know them or not. 💖All my love to my daughters, Indy and Mattie who made me magnanimous and loving in ways I did not know possible💕, my group of Warrior Women who are the new loves of my life, soulmates and best friends🖤Stove, who I jokingly call Mother, for his unconditional (and sometimes unwarranted) belief in me💙, and ALL you Warriors, who kept my world spinning on axis when I thought it would surely fall apart. LOVE ROCKS!! ❤️

Please Be My Valentine💝💘💓