Valentine's Day

Welcome to You and Me Forever...
A Valentine's Day Celebration

For most, Valentine's Day is a celebration consisting of wine, roses, poetry and song. Some, anticipate a day of sad memories and grief. A day in which minutes seem like hours, and hours like days, as we reflect sorrowfully on the loss of our loved one's to suicide, today's loneliness and the desire to feel the hugs and love we once received from them.

It doesn't have to be that way for any of us because our loved one is not gone, they live on in our hearts. They are still loving us as always. They are with us for eternity.

Opening our hearts, sharing our love with others and allowing those around us to fill our lives with their love for us, can provide us with the beauty necessary to live a wonderful life.

We have created this beautiful page as a celebration to acknowledge the love shared with friends and family members who help carry us through our healing journey and of the love we shared with those we have lost. On the following pages, you are invited to share the photos and stories of the love you share with those who are by your side through thick and thin (family, friends, pets, etc...) and photos and stories of the love you shared with the one you have lost, precious Valentine mementoes, such as cards or notes, if you would like to share them.

Let this page be the start of a celebration of all the love you have inside of you and to celebrate the love that others give to you. Love has great healing principles. We hope these pages act as a powerful medicine in healing the grief you may be feeling at this time. Allow love in, share it with others and let the healing begin.

Submission Instructions

If you would like to submit an entry, click on the email button at the bottom of the page and send your submission, including photos, stories (don't forget to include stories of the love you share with those who are by your side and hold you up!), your precious Valentine mementoes, your loved one's name, their dates and your name with your relationship to your loved one. We will add your submission at our first available moment. All survivors are welcome to participate. You need not be a member of our organization or any of our affiliates to send a submission.

Together, let us share this celebration of love.

Love is like a limitless ocean
in which all the existing conforms as well, as part of this wonderful unity
that cannot have limits neither borders, that doesn't discriminate, neither limits, but on the contrary it supports like sand grains
to a mountain,
that rises to an endless sky.
There is no power superior to Love
not even the highest wisdom
can understand all its mysteries,
however it is humble spontaneous,
constant and eternal.
Love is in your heart,
in your look,
in your actions,
and today and always,
we will discover in Love, eternity's true kingdom.

Valentine's Day Blues and Other Colors
by Laura Slap-Shelton, Psy.D.

Valentine's Day, a day when love is officially celebrated in the United States, can be a day of increased pain and sadness for the bereaved. Many individuals report images of their heart being shattered or smashed as they describe the pain their loss has created. They find it hard to assemble the pieces back into the beautiful wholeness they once knew.

Others feel frozen and disconnected from those they love. Their feelings no longer flow freely, and they carry a sense of emotional isolation. It is hard to keep ones heart open when it has been hurt and traumatized by a loss, and yet staying open to the sources of love in your life and remaining a source of love for others is one of the best paths to healing.

One way of turning the difficulty of Valentines Day around is to re-label it as a time of opening the heart. Take some time to identify your feelings and openly accept them. It is likely that a variety of feelings are crowding together, making it hard to feel much of anything. Sometimes making a list of the different feelings you are aware of can help to get them out. Noticing what problems the negative feelings stem from and thinking of possible solutions may help to release some of the worries and negative emotions that are present.

Focusing on the greatest source of love currently in your life is another positive way to reconnect with loving feelings. The source could be anyone or anything: a memory, a poem, a painting, an old letter, and spiritual or religious writings, whatever has positive meaning to you. Try relaxing and letting the positive feelings that this inspiration creates fill your mind. What colors does it bring to mind? As you relax see if you can notice a warm feeling in your chest and let it spread slowly throughout your body.

Connecting with friends and family can be helpful too. You might create a buddy system and agree to exchange flowers or candy with a friend, just for the fun of it. Send a card to someone whom you care about. Call a friend or relative. Go out for lunch or dinner. Let those close to you know that you love them even if its been hard to show it recently. Reach out to someone who might need your attention.

Some people find it comforting to write a note to the person they have lost, and let the person know how they are feeling and what they are doing. Others might honor the person they have lost with a ceremony in their honor.

If Valentine's Day feels too big to handle, it may be a good time to find a counselor or therapist who can help you through it. Connecting with a support group of other bereaved people may be a great way to open up in a community who understands your experience and is able to offer support.

While the blues might well be a realistic part of your Valentines experience, taking steps to reconnecting with your feelings and with others will allow other colors to flow in, and keep an open path of healing.

Love Is Never Silent

A loving heart, a gentle smile,
a warm and tender touch,
We give many things in life
but nothing means as much.

A little inspiration
when someone loses hope,
a kind word of encouragement
when they no longer seem to cope.

A simple phrase, "I love you"
when no one else is there,
taking hold onto a hand
in a little heartfelt prayer.

Love is never silent,
it has so much to say,
And it is our greatest blessing
when we give it all away.

You Are My Love

You are the essence of comfort and acceptance
Forever encouraging and loving me
For who I am and who I wish to be
Radiating your love like the warmth of a favorite blanket
I am wrapped within your heart.

You are like the ocean's tide
Constant and beautiful, yet forever changing
I watch in wonder at your many hues
Like that of a glorious sunset
The colors of you are infinite.

You are the one I need to seek
When I experience a newness in life
I want to share it with you and only you
Like a sturdy oak I lean on your strength
When I feel like a Weeping Willow.

You are eternal
You are woven into my soul forever
Etched into my life.
You are My Love

Scroll down and use the "Next" button to view entries.

Have a beautiful Valentine's Day celebration!

Painting:
The wonderful painting is ©Tom Sierak, artist, and used with his permission. The painting is available at his site and is entitled You and Me Forever. It is a hauntingly beautiful painting of his Father and Mother...note the footsteps beside the man.

Graphics By:

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  The personal contents are © SMHAI and the individuals submitting them 2005
  Absolutely no copying without expressed written permission of the author(s).
  Midi Music: Martina McBride's - Valentine