The common red rose indicates a strong feeling of love, and its universal symbol has been known to provoke excited utterances throughout the world. Of course if you’re not quite ready to make a strong statement of emotion and would rather tone it down to something along the lines of, “I really really like you and think you’re very cool,” there are options such as white, yellow, purple, even an interesting shade of green that all has its own symbolic meaning. A mixed bouquet of roses on Valentine’s Day can make a person feel remarkably special and wonderfully empowered with emotion.

While roses are of course the most common flower to send on Valentine’s Day, it is becoming more popular to send bouquets of alternate flowers. I believe this tradition was started by a man who didn’t want any misinterpretation from a bouquet of roses showing up on his girlfriend’s door. It seems he was receiving quite a bit of pressure to ask the big question that he simply wasn’t ready to pop.

Lilacs, carnations, irises, whatever you can imagine can now be sent to the door of your loved one for Valentine’s Day, or to the door of your really really liked one. Whatever you send will receive a warm reception because that’s what flowers do.

Fortunately for the flower sending deficient, flower companies have made it easier than ever to send flowers to just about anyone who lives just about anywhere, for a lot less than you’d think. A beautiful bouquet can be purchased and delivered for about $25-$30, sometimes even with the addition of a Mylar balloon. Most local flower companies can promise same day delivery as long as you call before noon, and some go as late as one or two o’clock.

Not only that, but most places can put together a beautiful arrangement just for your special Valentine just by talking to you about their personality. You don’t need to know the names of the flowers or anything like that. You don’t even need to know what the flowers look like. They can take care of it for you. There are there to serve the flower sending deficient. So as you can see, I am slowly melting away all the typical excuses for not sending your hopeful one flowers this Valentine’s Day.

There are those people who just don’t understand why flowers are such a big deal. They either see them as a waste of money or time. After all, they just sit around and die and why bother to go through all that commotion for something that lasts a few days and then turns brown?

Because it means something to the person you care for. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s silly. If they think it’s a beautiful and a wonderful moment in their day then isn’t that the point? Besides, most people who think getting flowers on Valentine’s Day have never received flowers on Valentine’s Day.

Sending flowers on Valentine’s Day isn’t just a job for men any longer. Women have recently stepped up to the plate and have begun to return the favor. Although women should consider that men work in interesting environments and it’s not always appropriate to send flowers to men at work. If you are interested in sending your guy flowers this year (which a surprising number of men do appreciate) it is advisable to send them to his home instead of his place of business. Even the macho guy who has his own bouquet sitting at home on his dining room table is likely to poke at your man, which is far from the point of sending them in the first place. Not all men will really “get it,” so don’t be surprised if he stands there staring at you for a moment. But chances are even if he pretends he simply doesn’t understand why you did this, deep down he’ll be a bit tickled.

Flowers are simply one of those all around “you got it right” gifts that can enhance a romantic Valentine’s Day for both of you. You don’t have to wait until you’re head over heels in love to express your thoughts with flowers and (by the way your mother would appreciate a bouquet as well) the meaning of flowers simply aren’t lost in translation. Take a moment and call the florist this year and sit back and watch the fireworks you set off.

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Celebrations in honor of mothers date back to the ancient Greeks, through Roman times and on down to the present day. The first official observance of Mother’s Day in the United States was initiated by Anna Jarvis, who encouraged her mother’s Grafton, West Virginia church to hold an annual service for mothers, beginning in 1908. By 1914, Mother’s Day was proclaimed as a national holiday in the U.S.

The first Father’s Day in the U.S. was also in 1908, but the road to official recognition of this holiday was much longer than that of Mother’s Day. Like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day was first celebrated as a church service in West Virginia. The inaugural Father’s Day was held on July 5, 1908 in the town of Fairmont. The inspiration for this holiday is believed to have been a deadly mine explosion in nearby Monongah in December of 1907. The Monongah explosion has been described as the worst disaster in the history of American mining. Caused by the ignition of methane, the explosion killed 362 boys and men, leaving more than 1,000 children fatherless. Given its proximity to the site of the first Mother’s Day church service, it is likely that the first Father’s Day was also influenced by the holiday for mothers, held less than two months earlier.

On the other side of the country, a woman named Sonora Smart Dodd was also inspired by Anna Jarvis and her attempts to establish a Mother’s Day observance. Mrs. Dodd’s father raised six children on his own. To commemorate her father and all others, Mrs. Dodd decided to create a day equivalent to Mother’s Day for fathers. Her efforts resulted in Father’s Day being celebrated on the third Sunday in June, 1910 in Spokane, Washington. Mrs. Dodd established the now lost custom of wearing flowers to celebrate Father’s Day. A red flower commemorated a father who was still living, while a white flower was a sign of remembrance for a deceased father.

The honoring of fathers quickly gained widespread support. By 1916, the family of President Woodrow Wilson celebrated Father’s Day. It was recommended as a national holiday by President Calvin Coolidge in 1924, but was not proclaimed as such until 1966. It was made a permanent national holiday in 1972 during the Nixon presidency.

Much like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day is celebrated the world over with gifts and cards. The tacky tie has become the traditional gag gift in many North American homes.

Internationally, the holiday is celebrated at various times throughout the year. Most countries follow the North American example and celebrate it on the third Sunday in June, but others celebrate it in March, September and November. In some countries, like South Korea and Vietnam, the celebration is known as Parents’ Day. In Russia, the day is used to celebrate the “fatherland” and is widely recognized as a men’s holiday.

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What exactly makes it so exciting? Is it the thrill of turning a year older? Is it the hope of that very special present? Is it that one special favorite person who has promised to come to the birthday party?

Birthday parties actually began with a superstition. The idea was that all the bad spirits focused heavily on the child with a birthday, and the more people who could be around them that day the more protection they would have. An entire village could show up for one single birthday. People would stay throughout the day, offering the birthday boy or girl the very best of wishes and blessings. An actual gift brought more blessings than just words, and of course, the hosting family would feed their visitors “cake,” which was really nothing more than biscuits and bread way back then.

This of course was the beginning of the birthday party, a wonderful tradition we now bestow upon each other to celebrate the fact that they were even born. Sometimes we like to make a big deal out of age milestones, segregating the importance of one age from the rest. There are of course, some pretty intense eighteenth birthday parties for obvious reasons.

The tradition started for royalty, acknowledging that they alone were worthy of protection, gifts, and well wishing. The rest of the kingdom was left unprotected to the elusive bad spirits. There’s not documentation on who the first villager was that was honored with protection for their birthday, or why the tradition trickled down to the villagers, but it is assumed that this is how we ended up with the “crowning” of the birthday child for the day. Perhaps a reasonable king realized that leaving his flock unprotected may very well result in not having a kingdom left to rule. Perhaps there was a plague or a war at the time. Who knows? All we know for sure is that the royals received the honor of protection for hundreds of years prior to allowing the villagers to partake in birthday protection.

Germany was the first to acknowledge children’s birthday parties. They appropriately referred to them as kinder fests, and the celebrations were known to go on nearly all day. This was of course during the time that families were much larger for the sake of survival, so birthdays were actually a fairly common event. With most families having between five and eight children and villages being comprised of approximately one hundred to two hundred families, there was quite a bit of celebrating going on.

Birthday tradition continued to evolve from there, and most of them reflect similar or even identical to typical American birthdays with cake, candles, birthday songs, presents, and parties. Some countries add a special Mass in the child’s honor.

There are a few countries that have some notable traditions for their birthday children. The Vietnamese, for instance celebrate birthdays all at once on New Year’s Day. Regardless of when a child is born, the first day of the New Year, they are now considered to be one year old.

Russian children receive pies rather than cakes and South African kids are given a key, fashioned out of just about anything, to symbolize that they are prepared to open the door to their future on their twenty first birthday. The children of Nepal receive a special mark on their forehead for their birthday. The children of Panama have very similar birthday parties as children of the United States, with the exception of size. Panamanians throw birthday parties that exceed 100 guests on a regular basis.

There are numerous countries that observe the “birthday bumping” custom. “Birthday bumping” involves lifting the child up upside down and gently “bumping” them against the floor. Naturally, they get one “bump” for every year they are old and then one extra one for good luck.

In Canada, children are snuck up on, grabbed, and have their nose greased with butter in an attempt to make them too slippery for the bad spirits to catch up with them and consume their day,

Birthday traditions vary worldwide and often families develop their own traditions as well. A new tradition that has been popping up is sending online greeting cards. Personalizing traditions, even if it’s as simple as allowing the birthday child to choose their favorite meal for dinner, emphasizes just how special and unique we all are and how very important it is to recognize that we came into the world and are here. Birthdays are special, and should reflect the excitement of life brewing all around us. This is apparently a feeling maintained worldwide as birthday celebrations are held all over the world.

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Even if you asked her, she wouldn’t tell you the truth. She would simply say, “I don’t need a gift.” This is one of the worst lies that women tell. Of course they need a gift and they want YOU to figure it out. They don’t want you to thumb through the Sunday times or spend 5 minutes shopping at the closest store to your home to come up with something that looks good wrapped for Mother’s day and they certainly don’t want to tell you what they want. It may be easier to start with things they don’t want.

Most moms do not want pots and pans. Unless the mother in your life is a culinary genius who spends hours cooking and catering meals, she isn’t interested in a dollar store frying pan so she can prepare your eggs. She probably doesn’t want a stock pot big enough to hold the rabbit for your grandmother’s rabbit stew recipe either. In fact, one great way to know you are never going to eat rabbit stew is to buy her the pot. She also doesn’t want a new spatula, cutlery, or anything that isn’t really for her, but for the entire family. Giving her a gift that quite simply reminds her of her wifely or motherly duties without making life any easier for her – should be scratched from the list immediately. If you want to give a kitchen gadget, then going for something that makes life easier such as a Kitchen Aid mixer is your best bet. If she loves her coffee more than her children, a Tassimo or Keurig coffee maker can go a long way in helping her enjoy life. And it will be just for her!

Other no-no’s when it comes to Mother’s Day are purses, bags or clothes that she didn’t ask for. Some men and children can pick out pretty hot clothes for mom, BUT unless you are one of them, you are asking for trouble. Not only will she feel obligated to wear it even if it looks bad, but if you buy a size too big – you are headed for a rough couple of days. To a woman, that is as good as calling her fat. On the other hand, if she asks for a specific brand of jeans that cost $200, don’t trade them in for a pair of Lee Easy fits because they looked the same to you. This too will cause a rough road ahead. The fact that you would be willing to buy the $200 jeans, even though you thought it was wasteful and indulgent proves to her how much she is loved!

When it comes to perfume, you also have to tread very carefully. There are some men in this world that are reminiscent of the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz – no brain. They will gleefully give their wife a brand new perfume and exclaim how the receptionist at work wears it and it smells awesome. Wink Wink! Not smart. If you buy her perfume of any kind, make sure it is something she likes, wears, and wants. If the mother in your life doesn’t take long candlelit bubble baths, then forego the bubble bath altogether.

Interestingly, many women do enjoy getting lingerie. Of course, this is a gift that should not be given in front of the kids or in-laws while eating dinner, but a hot idea for a husband is to purchase something sexy for his wife on Mother’s Day. The sheer thought that you went into a Victoria’s Secret and picked out some lacy number in her favorite shade of purple shows you think she’s still got it! And for that, you might just get it.

When it comes to the kids, mom really doesn’t care what they give her. They could give her a scribbled piece of paper with the words I love you written on it and it would make her happy. In fact, kids can give mom potted plants that she will eventually kill or hand made pieces of artwork to clutter up the house – and mom will melt. Why? Because they already gave her the most perfect gift on the day they were born….the gift of being a mother.

Another thing to recognize on Mother’s Day is that it should be her day to be pampered. She gets the remote control, she gets to pick what’s for dinner (or where to go) and the entire rest of the family should clean up and make it appear as if dinner never happened. A gift certificate to a local spa, to get her nails done (without the kids) or for a massage are also great ideas that will come in handy and be appreciated.

As with any gift, mom wants to be remembered. She wants to be thought of on Mother’s Day as more than a wife and provider of food and shelter. She wants to be remembered for being a woman, a person and for all the special and unique qualities that truly make her a special mom. Lastly, she wants to hear a silent but obvious thank you – to know that her family thinks she is the very best mom in the entire world.

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In fact, the celebration of Fathers Day did not come into existence until some 58 years AFTER Mothers day did. The first Fathers Day was celebrated in 1906 in Spokane Washington, as a day of observance to celebrate the lives of over 360 fathers who died in a coal mining accident. But it was not until 1972, that Fathers Day hit the official books as a holiday, mostly because people did not feel that fathers had the same sentimental value to their families as mothers did. Years ago, it was dads who were the supporters of the family while moms typically stayed home to work. Truth be told, in spite of the feminist movement – women as caretakers have been given a goddess status since the very beginning. While many women complain about being under appreciated and taken for granted in the home – today there are many dads who work 65 hour work weeks, and try to live up to the expectations of their wives, helping with housework and child rearing.

Yet according to statistics, Fathers Day celebrations and gift buying still seems to lag far behind that of Mothers Day spending. According to the Greeting Card Industry, there are 40 million less cards sold for Fathers Day than there are on Mothers Day. Perhaps the reason is that dads are far more forgiving when it comes to being lavished with gifts and cards on occasions like Fathers Day. Maybe fathers put less pressure on their family than mothers do when it comes to the demands of being appreciated. In today’s world of involved fathering, it is still somewhat surprising that the emphasis on Fathers Day is not as strong as it is for Mothers Day.

In most research ranging from the Labor Department to the National Retail Department, mothers are credited for over 40+ hours of child care each and every week, while dads are often credited for none because the majority spends their time outside of the house working. Additionally pregnancy and childbirth are two amazing feats of the maternal bond with children, and obviously deserve some recognition. As the phrase often says, “A mother can bring you into this world and she can take you out.” Realistically however, the father plays a large role in bringing a child into this world as well. Nature dictates that women carry the babies in all animal species, and men should be neither shamed nor denied celebration because they are not the ones that are pregnant. Right?

There is some good news that may signify a changing tide in how we celebrate Fathers Day. According to Forbes Magazine, 2012 – despite being a time of economic turbulence showed that the gap in spending between Mothers Day and Fathers Day was being bridged. They also indicated that the gap between Mothers Day and Fathers Day spending has been closed to around $30, with consumers spending on average of $163.00 on moms and $130.00 on dads.

The reality is that parents today should all be honored equally. Sure, there are deadbeat dads that get a bad rap. But there are also an increasing amount of dead beat moms. And there is an increasing amount of men who are gaining full custody of children during a divorce and who share custodial rights with women. Just a decade ago, men getting custody – joint or otherwise, was very rarely dispersed among North American court systems. Obviously, today’s dad is more involved with their child than ever before. And there are over 46 million stay at home fathers in homes where the mom goes out and earns a paycheck, something that years ago was considered unthinkable.

Perhaps as dads begin to earn their reputation as being quality parents – the celebrations for Fathers Day will catch up to those for Mothers Day. Or maybe not. Maybe dads today aren’t as high maintenance as mothers, and perhaps men don’t see the emotional significance of a Hallmark card and a dozen roses or an insignificant tie. Maybe dads today, who are spending quality time with their children and who are finally afforded the opportunity to be seen as quality parents who have something of value to offer their kids are happy with just that. As we let go of gender roles and openly invite dads to be active parts of childrearing – not only do they give their family daily gifts, but they also become deserving of having a special day where they too, just like moms, can be spoiled and valued by the family. Or, we could revert back to the movement initiated in the 1920’s that hoped to scratch both Mothers Day and Fathers Day in favor of a celebratory holiday called Parents Day!

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Start saving for college! College is expensive! You may think you have plenty of time left but the years slip away quickly. If you begin by putting $20 a week in an interest or stock yielding account, you will be able to save around $1,000 per year. Commit to increasing your donation each New Years and by the time your children are in 5th grade you will have quite a nest egg!

Make the resolution to introduce one healthy food to your children each week! Every mom and dad gets into a routine of macaroni & cheese and chicken nuggets. This works because the kids will eat it! But start young opening their palette and you will be surprised at the foods they like. Be creative and make one night a week a special “taste of the New Year” night! If you turn it into a special dinner every night, you will build upon their menu and their health. This can lead to great eating habits in the years ahead.

Make a New Year’s resolution to spend one hour every weekend (or once a week) taking a walk together as a family. Most households are filled with so much noise, toys and hustle and bustle that the quiet and beauty of nature often go unnoticed! This will also have everyone moving and even if your baby is a new walker, get them in on the fun!

Chances are high that you starting out recording memories and milestones with the diligence of an army drill instructor. Then time becomes slim, and children become more plentiful and before you know it, you can’t remember some of the simple things. Make a New Year’s resolution to record everything on a calendar and use New Years Day to take a walk down memory lane and record it! In the years to come you will be so glad you did. The best thing a family can offer their children are memories of good times spent together.

Back up your pictures! We all say we are going to do it and then don’t and then our computer crashes! Back up those digital photos and videos of your family or put them on CD’s and DVD’s! Never wait until it’s too late and New Years is a great time to do it. There after, make a vow to do it on every time change! Sitting at the computer backing up the endless photos will empower you to be more grateful for your family and allow you to revisit the past year with clarity. It is a good place to begin thinking about changes you can make that will positively affect your family.

Install or check on your smoke detectors! While not very exciting, this has to be done. More children every year are injured or killed in their home due to fire than from any other cause! Remember a month or so ago when the smoke detectors were beeping in the middle of the night and you just disconnected them…now is the time to make sure they are working again! If you don’t have them, install at least one on every floor of your home and especially in front of sleeping rooms. Make a New Year’s resolution to complete all of those daunting tasks that have been haunting you in the back of your mind for months. The simple, tedious projects that you desperately want or need done linger in your mind and can cause a lot of stress and worry as the months go by. Having them complete will feel like a fresh start.

New Years is the perfect opportunity to make lasting changes. One thing you shouldn’t forget to do is spend time with your spouse. No matter how busy you are with the kids, kids benefit from happy parents! This New Years decide that once a week or once a month you are going to take time out together! Not only will you feel a renewed sense of love and appreciate, but also you will get that much needed break that will leave you with the energy you need to get through another year raising children!

Plenty of people don’t believe in making New Year’s resolutions. If you are one of them, try to shift a change in your mind. You world is never standing still and sometimes you have to bend and flex in order to change with it. Raising a family means reinventing love, gratitude and hope within your home. Simple things like taking one small step to improve your own health or happiness will have a dramatic trickle down effect on others in your life. Rather than thinking of New Year’s resolutions as cliché, try to think of it as a way to wipe the slate clean and start over, losing the worry and frets from last year and looking forward to the solutions and abundance that await you in the next. No one is certain of his or her time on Earth and spending it wisely, lovingly and passionately should be the certain goal for this New Year’s. It is the one thing you will never get a chance to do over. Happy New Years!

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Boy have things changed! In today’s world, Sunday is one of the busiest of the year. Whereas years ago people wouldn’t dare schedule sports events, practices or birthday parties on Sunday – Sundays today are filled with long to-do lists in order to prepare for the even busier week ahead. According to a Reuters survey, most parents who work do all of their grocery shopping and errand running on Sunday, and there are just as much take out dinners and delivered pizzas on Sunday as there are on the often celebrated Friday nights. Sunday is laundry day, grass-cutting day, the only day of the week that people have to wash the windows, do that touch up painting, or start yard work.

Certainly, we are a busy society. Certainly, we have forgotten about the ‘day of rest’ and have lost touch with one of the simplest parts of our being. Being. We are called human ‘beings’ for a reason yet very few of us spend any time just being. Instead, we are constantly and always DOING. Running. Going here and there. Feeling unsettled and anxious when we try to relax. Trying to fit it all in, get it all done, make the most of every daylight hour that we have available.

The ironic thing is that no matter what you get done on Sunday – all the work, and errands and shopping and going – you will only have to do it all over again another day. Maybe instead of scheduling our Sundays, we should take a small bit of advice from generations before of us that allowed us, encouraged us, empowered us even to use Sundays as a day for family.

A famous quote by Albert Schweitzer says,

“Do not let Sunday be taken from your soul. If your soul has no Sunday, you become an orphan.”

Of course, the quote was meant metaphorically. No one can actually take a Sunday away from us, as it is a day that comes each every week whether we want it to or not. Yet the advice in the quote, the profound meaning is one that so many of us are missing on it in this day and age of ‘do it all parenting,’ ‘having it all living’ that is leaving us many of us empty.

Ask yourself this. In ten years, will you remember the grocery shopping or your employees wedding or will you remember the backyard games of tennis? In ten years, will the take out pizza bring you more solace than sitting around your parents table and sharing a meal as a family? In ten years, will the ball games and ball practice replace the time that you could have spent with your loved ones? In ten years – will you have the same opportunities then as you do today – right here and now – to BE with your family? And most importantly, what kind of legacy are you leaving behind for your children? One that empowers them to make priorities and at least set one day aside to recuperate and be with the ones they love – or one that pushes them to do, do, do by jumping on the hamster wheel of a life constantly spent doing rather than being?

Perhaps the most important question to ask yourself is this. Don’t you deserve ONE stinking day each week to relax, enjoy yourself, allow time to coast by without planning, to do what strikes your fancy or nothing at all – to spend your time just being?

It is no secret that stress and anxiety disorders are at all times high in modern day society. There are more people taking Xanax and Klonopin on a regular basis than there are taking over the counter pain relievers. Nearly every illness from those that are mental, to those that are physical and deadly – are linked to roots of stress. And even with better healthcare and more advanced medicines, we are a ‘sicker’ world than we ever have been.

Could it be that taking our Sundays back could be a cure? Or at least a start. Could it be that shutting down technology, turning off phones, not answering emails, not working, not spending any money, not leaving your home for just one day – not scheduling or planning or wading in things to do for just one day during each week could help us live happier, more fulfilled lives? The only way to find out is to try it. To reclaim your Sunday for what it is – a day of rest, a day of being, a day of celebration for the things and people that you love in life.

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Funny enough, Valentine’s Day was originally dedicated to two Christians who shared the name of Valentine and tragically died in AD 197 and AD 269 . What’s romantic about that? And yet, people make the simple request every time February 14th roles around: “Will you be my Valentine?” Why would you want to be someone’s Christian martyr?

Well, it wasn’t until the 1300’s that February 14th became associated with romance. In 1382, Geoffrey Chaucer composed the poem Parlement of Foules to honor the engagement of the 13-year-old King of England, Richard II, to 14-year-old Anne of Bohemia. So what’s illegal now, was really quite romantic in the 1300’s.

By the Middle Ages, lovers were engaging in an annual ritual of exchanging notes back and forth, referring to each other as “valentines.” Many of the legends about the original Valentine martyrs, including one where one of the two St. Valentines gave his jailer’s daughter a note that said “from your Valentine” before he was executed, were likely invented during this time period. Everybody can appreciate a good love story!

When the 1800’s hit, Valentine’s Day had spread to the United States. Today, the Greeting Card Association approximates that one billion valentine cards are sent every year. (Women are mostly to blame for this, as they make up 85% of Valentine’s Day card purchasers.)

This year, more than any other, people will be exchanging valentines over the World Wide Web, likely in the from of “e-cards.” In fact, people actually will meet each other on the Internet, too, whether by their own initiative or through an online dating website. Some of these people will even get married. The world of dating has drastically changed, but aren’t the rules pretty much the same?

Whether you’re looking at the 1300’s or the new millennium, courtship and dating are pretty simple concepts. But they’ve always caused anguish among those who are looking for love or are knee-deep in love. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, let’s take a look at some of the modern-day dating issues that seem to perk up time and time again. (And every one of them has probably had an episode of HBO’s “Sex and the City” dedicated to it.)

First Date Jitters

Whether you’re a newly divorced 40-year-old man, a barely adolescent girl, or a college frat boy – a first date will probably make you nervous!

First, you have to decide upon the setting. Should the two of you go to a movie, go out to eat, go bowling? Do you want to keep it casual or do you want to try to make it the most romantic evening ever? And there really is no right or wrong answer to these questions.

(Except for the whole movie idea – how are you supposed to get to know your date while chomping on popcorn and staring at a big cinema screen? In fact, if you even try to get get to know your date, you’ll just be shushed by other moviegoers. A movie can be a part of the date, but it should hardly be the main event. Instead, consider going out to eat first. After all, it just may make it all the more easy to get nice and cozy with your date when you do finally settle down in those theater seats.)

It’s important that you determine from the start what kind of mood you want to set. If you’d like to keep it light and conversation-oriented, why not go out for coffee one afternoon? If you’re looking for a more steamy get-together, take your date out for some fine cuisine and dancing.

But the number one rule of a first date is (drum roll) to be yourself. This may seem counter-intuitive. But while you want to make a good first impression, it makes little sense to try on a new personality or pretend you’re interested in and knowledgeable about subjects that you have no clue about. There are only two outcomes here: the first one is that your date will immediately see through you and you won’t ever get a second date, and the second is that your date will fall for your act and you’ll just have to keep it up, but for what purpose? It’s better to have a bad first date and go on to the next love interest, than to turn your dating life into a television show or movie where you’re constantly trying to hide your true identity from your new flame. Unless you’re Superman or Cinderella, that doesn’t really work in the long-run.

Another question that might pop up in your mind on your first date is: “to kiss or not to kiss?” This is another question that’s hard to answer with any blanket statement. It really depends on you and your date; it’s best not to force anything, but to instead, constantly gage how the night is going and properly react to it. Keep in mind, though, that sometimes it’s best to leave them wanting more. But not everybody has such self-control and it’s hard not to answer when pure chemistry is knocking on the door!

Online Dating

With every passing year, the idea of meeting a love interest over the Internet becomes less and less, well, weird! As Americans continue to pursue time-consuming careers and find that it’s much easier to socialize with others over the web (often by using social networking sites like Myspace), it seems natural for people to interact over the Internet. After all, the same people who you’d meet on the Internet are probably the same people you’d meet at the grocery store!

But is online dating for you? Just as you’d want to be wary of a stranger you meet in a bar, you want to be skeptical of a stranger you meet on the Internet too, maybe even more so. But fortunately, there are many legitimate dating websites these days – like Match.com – that gather up extensive profiles of aspiring daters and pair them together to see if sparks fly. This may seem more scientific than romantic. But considering that actual matchmakers have been popular for hundreds of years (sometimes in the form of the parents of a single person), online dating doesn’t really seem all that odd. So if you’re too busy to find the love of your life in a conventional way, why not give online dating a try?

The Secret to Love

Dating can be exciting and fun, but it can also be a total nightmare if you go into it with too many expectations. This year, don’t prepare for your most impassioned, romantic Valentine’s Day yet. Most couples don’t look back on that Valentine’s Day dinner as the happiest memory of their relationship; instead, they may fondly recall that time that they were on the way to the opera and got lost and ended up going to McDonald’s instead. So, the best way to look at love is not to expect it to happen to you like it would in a movie. He or she won’t always say the right thing and there certainly won’t be a lovely musical score to tell you when to make the first move.

After it’s all said and done, it’s probably likely that Cupid’s one wish for lovers, friends, and family everywhere, is that the thoughtful, affectionate words exchanged on Valentine’s Day are exchanged on every other day of the year too. After all, as it’s been said a trillion times and in varying ways: you’ve got to give love to get it.

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Ancient Greeks held a spring festival in honor of Rhea, the mother of gods and goddesses. The Greek celebration involved honey cakes, drinks and flowers at dawn on the festival day. Ancient Romans also had a festival to honor Cybele, a mother goddess. The festival of Cybele lasted three days and became notorious enough to have Cybele’s followers banished from Rome. For the ancient Celts, the first milk of the ewes marked the beginning of celebrations in honor of mothers.

In the early seventeenth century, Britons began observing Mothering Sunday. This occasion started as a holiday for servants who were encouraged to return home, with a special mothering cake, to visit their mothers. Mothering Sunday was observed on the fourth Sunday in Lent.

In the United States, three women were involved in the creation of Mother’s Day. One of these women, Julia Ward Howe, was known for writing the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic. In 1870 she tried to issue a peace manifesto at an international peace conference. By 1872 she was actively promoting the idea of a mother’s day for peace. Her Mother’s Day for Peace eventually took place in 18 cities and was carried on for about 30 years, until Mrs. Howe moved on to other activities and ceased financing the observance.

Mrs. Howe was influenced by Anna Reeves Jarvis, who started “Mothers’ Work Days” in 1858, in an effort to improve health and safety conditions for workers. During the Civil War, she mobilized women to help the wounded, regardless of which side of the conflict they were on. Anna Reeves Jarvis also took up the cause of Mother’s Day, sharing Mrs. Howe’s vision of a day of peace. Upon her death in 1905, Mrs. Jarvis’ daughter, also named Anna, made a promise to herself to continue her mother’s work and to establish a day to honor mothers. In 1907, in memory of her mother, the younger Anna distributed white carnations to every mother in attendance at her mother’s church in West Virginia.

The following year was a significant one for the history of Mother’s Day and for Anna Jarvis. Her mother’s church instituted an annual Sunday service honoring mothers. And, although it was not successful, the first bill proposing a Mother’s Day holiday was presented in the U.S. Senate.

Anna Jarvis then gave up her job and began working full-time to establish Mother’s Day. She wrote to anyone she thought had influence, including legislators, women’s groups, clergy and businessmen, to try and persuade them to push for a holiday for mothers. In 1909, Mother’s Day began being observed by other countries, including Canada and Mexico. By 1914, President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution establishing Mother’s Day as a national holiday in the United States. Unlike Mrs. Howe’s day for mothers, which had links to public activism for peace, the government’s resolution emphasized the role of women in their families.

The tradition of purchasing cards and flowers came along shortly after the holiday was created. Distressed at the increasing commercialism of Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis eventually ended up campaigning against the holiday. She died in poverty in 1848.

Today, Mother’s Day is celebrated around the world as sons and daughters of all ages use gifts and cards to tell their moms how important they are. And, although Anna Jarvis might disagree with the method, the message is still one of honoring mothers.

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St. Patrick is of course considered the patron saint of Ireland. His life is celebrated on the day he dies, March 17th, 461 AD. He was responsible for the conversion of a remarkable number of Irishmen to Christianity.

St. Patrick began his life in Wales, not Ireland. He was the son of a wealthy merchant until the age of sixteen, when his family was attacked and St. Patrick was sold mercilessly into slavery. He was known then as Maewyn, and he was forced into the isolation of sheep herding for a long six years, a drastic change from his original life. The solitude and the loneliness was what many believe drove him to his devout Christian principles and in fact gave him the strength to escape.

On foot he traveled two hundred dangerous miles to the coast of Ireland, and then sailed onto freedom where he founded his studies in Christianity and devoted himself to missionary work. Because of his familiarity with the Irish people, the landscape, and the language, he was sent back to Ireland once more to begin his work as a missionary. The druid priests met him with great resistance as they fought to maintain the Pagan ways.

Maewyn became readily known as Patrick and set about bonding with the people of Ireland in an effort to explain Christianity. He used clovers to illustrate the holy trinity and created the cross bearing the sun to provide continuity to what the Irish already knew and held dear to their hearts. He respected their holy tributes that honored the gods with bonfires, and Easter was celebrated with huge bonfires. Eventually he began to convert the Irish in drives to Christianity.

There are those that credit St. Patrick with the unusual absence of snakes, stating that he drive the snakes from Ireland, but science is more readily able to determine that the snakes dislike the combination of climate, weather patterns, and basic terrain and they found Ireland less habitable than other regions.

The feast of St. Patrick’s Day historically excuses the fasting requirements associated with lent, and has historically led to large celebrations. In the 1760’s Irish immigrants in New York began the tradition of the St. Patrick’s Day parade, despite the frowns they received from other religious leaders and groups. Once the great famine of Ireland struck, the massive immigration to the United States created a high enough volume of Irish immigrants that the parades and celebrations became U.S. traditions.

St. Patrick’s Day celebrations have taken on tremendous popularity in town with high Irish ratios, although the celebrations are certainly far from restricted to solely the Irish. Anyone can join in the festivities and create a day that is filled with joy and heavy celebration. Although the tradition of heavy drinking began as a United States tradition (pubs in Ireland were actually closed for the day and the Irish people congregated in Mass instead) the tradition of celebrating with large amounts of alcohol has actually spread to a worldwide phenomenon with the exception of countries that do not acknowledge Christian holidays.

The traditional wearing and displaying of the color green pays homage to Ireland and all her splendor. New York and Chicago both revamp at least one special part of the city every year to represent green in public areas, denoting respect for the Emerald Island.

The eastern seaboard tends to have grander St. Patrick’s Day celebrations than elsewhere in the country, due to the higher Irish population, and those wishing to experience an Irish festival that most closely resembles a true Irish celebration should head to a northeastern city. Boston and New York are the most highly publicized St. Patrick’s Day events.

As American we have misconstrued a few holiday facts, such as considering leprechauns cute little spirits. They are actually considered evil spirits that can rob you blind both of monetary and moral value. The shamrock is neither a real plant nor is it the national symbol of Ireland. The shamrock is actually a type of clover that grows readily in Ireland and the national symbol is a Celtic harp.

Either way, St. Patrick’s Day is a day that the Irish and other interested parties have learned to celebrate in peace with each other and in harmonious feasting. Sometimes the coming together in a holiday spirit can bridge many gaps between cultures.

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