In the Haiti I know, Elizabeth LaFrance said, February 14th is a day for lovers to show their true colors, literally: If you are involved in a romantic relationship (and you are happy about it), you wear pink. If you are overwhelmingly excited, you wear red. If you are not taken but hope to be, you wear green. If your lover puts your heart in a slingshot, you wear yellow. Yellow is for betrayal. Treason. Trayizon. Yellow is for ‘I don’t think so!’ Goodbye. See you in space.”
Martine Vassor put it this way: “It didn’t matter how much money we had, we found a way to celebrate love. The people of Port-de-Paix enjoyed Valentine’s Day. We did. We do. Those who could afford large bouquets of flowers and chocolate for their sweethearts flooded the stores to buy them. Others ‘borrowed’ stems from other people’s gardens. Lovers ran far and fast to find one another. Love can make you run. Love can light a fire under your feet; you can walk for miles without getting tired.”
A couple can be split between Norway and Chile, but each wears a wedding band anyway. Between Skype and Facebook, all you need is good Internet connection to fall and stay in love. But on nights when the temperature drops below zero, how useful is all the technology? Until some brilliant person invents one of those Beam-me-up, Scotty teleporters, there will be a draft in the bedroom. And in the heart. In spite of all the advancements everyone has made, there’s still no app for love.
To my friends who are not with their sweethearts tonight, hold on. Love is coming.