Happy Valentine's Day!

What? You mean to tell me you don't have a valentine? That you feel like Charlie Brown, standing by the empty mailbox, waiting for that red-headed girl (or boy, as the case may be) to send you a flowery, red-heart, I-care-about-you greeting -- and it never comes?

Well buck up, friend. Cuz you're not alone. And judging from the sheer volume of on-line match-maker sites on the infamous world-wide-web, it looks as if you're actually in the majority here.

Would I pull your leg about something that strikes this close to the heart?

I think not!

Besides, statistics show that more than half of us "boomers" have had to start our romantic lives over again -- and I'm no exception. In fact, when it comes to failings of the heart, I can honestly say I'm probably on the leading edge of those statistics.

You can mark me up for the full count, as I stand in the batter's box, in this ball-game of the heart: three balls, two strikes -- and a whole string of foul balls slugged back into the stands, to boot.

"But I ain't about to give up yet!" (she says, as she spits on her hands, takes a firm hold of the bat, and gives the pitcher a steely glare.) "Just smoke one more pitch in here, low an' outside, right there," (she says, taking aim with a wink), "then I'll show ya what it means to knock that thing clean outta this park!"

Hey, I can dream, can't I?

I can also keep my life moving forward -- stand right up to that plate, as it were -- rather than sit in the dugout, crying into my sarsaparilla. At least that way, I'll go down swinging, even if I do strike out -- yet again!

For if I've learned nothing else, through my sullied and checkered past, I've learned that you have to keep on trying, no matter what the odds.

'Cuz when you keep trying, you keep your life moving ahead. And it's a whole lot more interesting to tackle new challenges, instead of chewing on the same old mistakes, over and over again, like the ball-player's puff-cheeked chaw, that seems to keep growing bigger and bigger with every chomp.

So what does all this baseball stuff have to do with Valentine's Day, you ask?

O.K., I'll tell ya.

It means that no matter how lonely and fruitless my chances for finding "true love" may seem to appear on this particular Valentine's Day, I'm not gonna stand by that mail box -- like good ol' Charlie Brown -- waiting for someone else to take the lead in fulfilling my life.

I'm going to make my own life full and eventful, satisfying and complete.

So Charlie Brown, if you're listening -- go buy yourself a Valentine and a box of chocolate candy this year. Cuz if you don't care enough about yourself to see to your own necessities and wants, who else is gonna do it for you?

Better yet, why not send an anonymous Valentine to someone whom you admire -- someone who may also be struggling with a life lived solo, rather than in tandem harness.

Let them know that someone else does care, and that they really aren't alone.

And tell 'em, "Happy Valentine's Day" from The Crackpot, too!

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