paying-attention

When my daughter Ruth was little, she had a friend whose parents were Jehovah’s Witnesses. They were very nice people, God-fearing of course but also very caring and pleasant in their dealings with others.

It was understood that their daughter could not attend birthday parties or various holiday events. Instead, when the mom was out shopping and saw something that she thought Ruth might like, she’d just get it for her.

This year’s Valentine’s Day hype has gotten me thinking. Maybe the Jehovah’s Witnesses have a point. Do we really need to be assigned a certain date to show that we appreciate others? Is Thanksgiving the only time we give thanks, or eat a big meal with our families? Is my husband only special to me on February 14^th and chopped liver the rest of the year?

I don’t like doing things in crowds. It’s annoying, expensive and often depressing to celebrate the same way everyone does at the same time everyone alse does. I’m thinking about either ignoring holidays altogether, or marking them on a different date. For instance, maybe I’ll add six months to each date. Then Valentine’s Day would be August 14^th, Christmas would fall on June 25^th and so on.

Or maybe I’ll just celebrate when I feel like it.

# posted by dorothy @ 12:42 PM