As you know it, yesterday was the St. Valentine’s Day. My girlfriends all got a hustle on it, making tons of cookies and cakes. (Not me!) In Japan, it is the day for girls to attack, no, not exactly, approach objects of their affections, right? (Even though there’s such a thing as “obligation chocolates.”) However, in the U.S., it is the day for general expression of all kinds of love between friends, families, co-workers, and all others that you care about beyond romantic love. (Thanks to those who have given me sweets and cards yesterday.) So there were many forms of love evident on campus, transformed into realia, expressing their love to their special ones. There also was a loving expression waiting for me as I headed to the campus in the morning.... As I parked my car in a parking lot and looked up, airplane tracks revealed themselves before my eyes. Two straight lines stretched all the way across the blue sky, forming a cross. (If you’ve already noticed a connection between this incident and the past entry, thanks for visiting my blog always!) Boy, I was really touched. It was quite a dandy gesture, God. Though the cross vanished in few hours, it left a lasting image in my heart!
Then I found a friend with a not-so-excited face at work. So I asked her, “How are you?” and she replied, “I hate Valentine’s Day!” She said no matter she’s in love or not, she’s always disliked the Valentine’s Day because it’s kind of artificial. “It’s so fake!” she told me, “You wonder if the person is expressing his loves only because it’s obligatory on the Valentine’s Day. I’m like, ‘Just express your love to me on other 364 days voluntarily!’” I see.... As for me, I kinda tend to expect something on such a featured day, but there are many outlooks on this, I learned. Some girls would be thinking, “Aren’t you doing something for me on the Valentines?” whereas others would be like, “Don’t do anything on the Valentines as if you’re forced or something!” What women want is complex and obscure, isn’t it? So guys, don’t forget to do a little research about what your girl wants before the big day!
By the way, my best friend told me few years ago, “I’m expecting to be engaged on the Valentine’s Day, so don’t come to my house on the 14th until I tell you to do so.” (How confident!) So another friend of hers and mine and I were just hanging out, waiting around for her call. But it didn’t happen on the big day with a capital V. She was so disappointed. (But she got happily engaged five days later.) But get this! While my other girlfriend and I were waiting for her, we ran into an old male friend at church, so three of us hang out in the evening, and then later the two started dating....! Who would have known? So I gave a credit to those couple saying, “Since you (the wife) had a high expectation for the Valentine’s Day, and you (the husband) didn’t meet it, those two were able to get together. Nice job!” So we laugh about it now. (In the hindsight, things are always more humorous.)
So you never know what will lead you to what! Because things don’t happen as we expect in our timing, certain things can happen to bring us delayed gratification, so it seems. One's string of happiness has equal value as others’, therefore they are all weaved into a tapestry by the all-knowing, mighty hands. Even when your string seems to be overcovered by other strings, there is purpose and meaning. The best timing is God’s timing, right? As you are reading this blog right now, happiness is happening to you though you may not know it!
