Happy Valentine's Day and relive or make new memories

Hi neighbors. next Sunday is the big day for people in love! I hope you are prepared with cards, candy, wine, flowers, a night out on the town and a nice dinner.

During my years as a reporter for the Nevada Daily Mail, each year I would do one or two articles about how various couples defined "love" and how they expressed it to their beloved. I have interviewed starry eyed teenaged couples and couples who had been married and deeply in love for more than 60 years.

Both couples defined love as a sense of caring and duty to the other person; a deep want and need to protect, provide and encourage growth in each other. All four people stated they wanted a partner to share their daily lives with.

With the well-known divorce rate these days, it may be difficult to think of forever love. Many people no longer look ahead years and years and are instead content to see what happens tomorrow. This may not mean they are not in love; just living a different definition of love.

Many poets, songwriters and greeting card scribes have tried to define love through the centuries. Some are content to simply describe how love makes one feel, or recount how love has made them act.

It is a powerful emotion and how it affects a person seems unique to each individual -- sometimes unique to each individual's love experience.

Let's not forget love of family. The love of a mother or father for their children is usually very strong and protective; with emphasis on providing a home and training about social interactions and preparations for making a living.

However, Valentine's Day is most often associated with couple love. From the innocent and often awkward glances in early grade school through high school and college; expressing love to a person you are infatuated with can be very embarrassing.

Too often children are left to their own devices in learning skills in communication about emotional issues. Parents, don't forget to let your children know they can ask you anything; and be prepared for some difficult questions.

It might not hurt to do some reading on how to express your own emotional intentions towards an interesting potential partner. People learned long ago to keep a book of poetry handy for such important dates on the calendar: birthdays, anniversaries, proposals and annual Valentine's Day celebrations.

The problem with Valentine's Day is that men and women tend to want to use very different methods of celebrating.

Women like to go out, wearing a new piece of jewelry just gifted to her, be seen on the arm of her gentleman, be treated like a queen with dinner out, dancing or a show and do all the wonderful things a young girl on a date might do. They want you to prove you still find them attractive, want to show them off, and both share and value their commitment.

Men, on the other hand, enjoy celebrating the comforts of home and marriage. They want to honor their wife as the one who keeps the house, makes the meals, tends the children and shares their life with love and joint fidelity. A gift of flowers, watching a romantic movie at home, a dinner delivered and sending the children to grandma's house for the evening is their way of attesting to themselves and their wife that they are happy in their marriage.

Not that either of these two methods of showing love in long-term relationships is better or worse than the other; men and women need to talk about what they need to honor and celebrate in their relationship.

Couples who are recently in love like to celebrate Valentine's Day in a way that communicates to each of them how much the other cares, wants to be with them, and reciprocates their own emotions.

Younger children want to get a Valentine and have someone else say they like them -- and get a candied heart to seal the deal. It's simple and it's beautiful. Both know what they want and don't hide their disappointment if they don't get it.

Whatever group your own situation finds you in, celebrate Valentine's Day by making new memories, or remembering those of times and loves past. Happy Valentine's Day to all!