A fellow Super-mom and I were talking as she was putting needles into me (acupuncture—I highly recommend it), and the subject of Valentines came up.

“What do you do for your kids for Valentine’s Day, Taylor?” she inquired. “Do you guys make all the Valentines and send them into school? Honestly, I’m not sending anything in to school with ‘Jody.’* I think it’s pretty silly. We never did all this when I was a kid. You didn’t have to bring in all these elaborate things…and you can quote me on that.”

(She reads Super-mom.com regularly and knew where my mind was going-LOL.)

I told her about my experience the day prior in Winchester after I taught a double at our yoga studio in the Horn Pond Plaza across from Wholefoods. I stopped into Michaels, an arts and crafts store, to pick up a few things for my kids’ Valentine making adventures, and the place was crawling with panicked Super-moms, trying to snag the last of the Valentine treats before they all got scooped up. The amount of stress in that store was palpable. And we’re talking lacey doilies and sparkly heart stickers, my Sisters.

My kids and I had spent three (yes, really three) hours the day before in Natick, going from store to store, attempting to buy Valentines supplies to make our own. My intention had been to swing into a store, buy some cute stuff, and go home and spend the afternoon cutting, pasting, coloring, and glitter glue-ing with my kids. Making fun Valentines to spread the light and love.

But instead we spent the afternoon in and out of stores and in the car, as store employees shook their heads, explaining that we should’ve bought our supplies a month ago.

“WHO ARE THESE ORGANIZED PEOPLE?!” asked my friend/student/neighbor and fellow Super-mom when I told her the story.

We laughed, but also questioned how even a holiday like Valentines Day has gotten so out of hand—gone so over the top—when it comes to our children (I’m not even going to go there re. all the issues with Valentines Day when it comes to adults–who are single, who are unhappily partnered with someone, who have lost a partner, etc).

Let’s call a spade a spade (or a heart a heart): Valentines Day for our children has really become the responsibility of Super-moms—which is fine, since it’s “fun” and has to do with flowers, cards, candy, and love; however, that’s not the issue. The issue is that it is yet another responsibility piled onto the already growing heap of “things to do” for American Super-moms. And something’s gotta give, Sister.

Now if you’ve been reading my blog at all, you know that I’m not going to diss Valentine’s Day and end on that note. There is ALWAYS a lesson.

Here was mine: I personally love hearts, pink, and the idea of spreading love. Valentine’s day is therefore perfectly suited to me. How and why it began to feel like a chore doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that it did, I was cognizant of this fact, and I mindfully made a choice to shift.

No one can take something anything away from me. Only I can allow that. If I love to spread love and that’s what Valentine’s Day means to me, then that’s what it is. That’s my experience.

There can be a whole country out there stressing out at AC Moore, but I don’t have to join in. There can be a bunch of Super-moms who attempt to “outdo” the others and create an “even better” Valentine for their kids to distribute in Kindergarten, but no matter, because I know what Valentine’s Day means to me.

And besides, who am I to say that that Super-mom of a Kindergartener isn’t having the best time ever creating that card/candy/cupcake/etc. with her child, and so it just so happens to be incredible?

Rock on, Super-mom. Spreading love is what it’s all about.

“Those whose minds are shaped by selfless thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy follows them like a shadow that never leaves.

–Buddha

Travel light
Live Light.
Spread the light.
Be the light.

“We are formed and molded by our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”

–Buddha

“Thank you, thank you, thank you. This is my new mantra. I say it, think it, really try to fully mean these words whenever I feel the slightest twinge of discontent. No more whining. Just try it. When you say thank you over and over—even if half-heartedly at first—I can almost guarantee that your shoulders will relax, you’ll see the good in your life the way it is, and you’ll say YES to now.”

-From “A Real Life” magazine

“All we are is the result of what we have thought. If you speak or act with a pure thought, happiness follows you.”

–Buddha