Friday, February 12, 2016

Valentine's Day And The Importance Of Sweetness

divine-project.com
Many couples will celebrate their love on February 14th sitting in restaurants festooned with hearts dangling from the ceilings and red splashed everywhere. Men will clutch bunches of flowers and women will come up with cute, romantic ideas to make the day special.

Whatever comes your way, accept it and show how gracious you can be. Temper your expectations because for some men and women when it comes to Valentine's Day, they're just not that into it.

If it's important to you and you've been dating someone for more than three months, make it known. Even if it's not important, make that known too.

Avoid gloating at every cost. There is no need to call a friend whose relationship may not be as solid as yours and tell her or him in great detail what you received on Valentine's Day. If a friend calls and wants to know, share. They asked for it. 

Yvette ranted about Valentine's Day to an ex-boyfriend and noticed he remained silent. After she finished, he quietly told her that he liked The Sweetest Day, a special day celebrated in Ohio. Instead of a celebration of love, it began as a day to do something sweet for the less fortunate. While it's evolved into a more romantic day we hope that some diehards still think of the needy especially during these trying times.

I didn't know about the Sweetest Day several years ago when I brought sheets of stickers to the kitchen where I served the homeless. I made each and every man and woman my Valentine by pressing a sticker onto their napkins. Most didn't notice but some did.
I saw the smiles and felt the love.

We like the Sweetest Day. Maybe there's an elderly neighbor who could use some heart. Maybe this year with so many people unemployed, there's a way we can make this their sweetest day until something better comes along. And we all want that to be soon.

We wish you the sweetest Valentine's Day no matter how you want to look at it.

*We ran this post before, the message still stands and it's still sweet. 

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

The Importance of New Threads By Yvonne


We all can get a little lazy when it comes to emails, such as using the same subject line that has nothing to do with the most recent email.  Beware of long threads. Some are necessary when related to a project; they are solid proof of agreements, disagreements and next steps. But some can be problematic.


A few years ago I was making dinner plans with two friends. The emails went on and on with last minute schedule changes, cancellations and even illness.  As I scrolled through the week old thread, I came upon one email between my other two friends but I was copied all the same.  One mentioned to the other that he was over me regarding a personal experience I was going through.  He had washed his hands of me (his words). The other friend didn’t respond, if he did, he was smart enough to reply directly without dragging me into it.

If it’s not business, there’s no need to continue to send the same “used” email.  There is no cost for beginning a new one. I held onto that email for a while. I never confronted him, in the end I pressed delete and washed my hands.