After an unfortunate and unwelcome divorce I moved in with my 72-year-old, widowed mother. She was a good sport and a great help. In the mornings she helped get kids ready for school and me off to work. As I left I’d say, jokingly, “You make a good wife.”

Families come in all shapes, sizes, and shades. Whatever the situation on couples holidays like Valentine’s Day, it is a mate that is missed. Girls, women, moms, and grandmothers all like to receive a treat from a lover.

It is what is happening in our heads, not our hearts, that creates the emotions we associate with the “missing piece.” Shel Silverstein wrote a book titled , The Missing Piece Meets the Big O. It would make a great gift to yourself for Valentine’s Day. In fact, I suggest you prepare a lovely meal with candles just for yourself. Gift wrap the book and read it with chocolates for an after dinner treat.

Romantic love is a significant part of our adult lives. Valentine’s Day however need not be just for lovers. Here are a few Memory Makers for you to try:

• Use this Day as an opportunity to share with your children about the importance of respect in male/female relationships.
• Have older children prepare a special meal with all the table settings and decor. Cook something red, like spaghetti sauce.
• Have younger children or crafty older ones design and create handmade Valentine cards for grandparents. Cover a table with doilies, red construction paper, scissors, glue, glitter (for older kids), stickers, and maybe a photo of child. Let them go with it.
• Make slice and bake Valentine cookies. Wrap in pretty red ribbons and deliver to someone who may not get another Valentine.
• Make a “date” with a girlfriend. Dress up in your finest red attire and treat each other as BFF’s for an evening.