Blog 3748 1 02.14.2026

Happy Valentine’s Day, Dear Hearts

For several years I used to pass out little cards to everyone that I came across on Valentines Day. I said to the guys give this to your sweetheart and tell her, “This is how I want to make you feel” and I said to the dolls give this to your sweetheart and tell her, “This is how I want you to make me feel.” I said “guys and dolls” instead of boys and girls or men and women because those are the traditional romantic roles depicted in the painting called The Rapture of Psyche.

Many romantic stories are not so traditional, yet still just as real and powerful whether one is giving or receiving, top or bottom. Ideally it is not either/ or but both.

Thirty-eight years ago today as  I gave the the lady who would be ”Love of my Life, Linda Lee Stoke, that first Valentine I was already hoping after only dating her for a couple of weeks that she would Be Mine and allow me to make her feel like the young lady in the Rapture painting.

In December of 2021 I concluded my last six month out of town work assignment that I had taken so I could replace the savings than the Covid-19 lock-down had totally depleted. Having accomplished that and retiring, I hoped that Linda and I would be able to spend our retirement together doing just what little plaque that I brought home to her from Nebraska said:

In replacing the money that had been exhausted I was also able to restore one checking account that I designated as our “Paris Fund” that I hoped we would use to visit the City of Light which had long been one of our shared dreams.

Alas, in late January of 2022 after a very painful and scarring case of Shingles, Linda had a mental break that altered our retirement travel plans. This past August I was finally able to place an RV Camper, similar to the one that I lived in on my away from home work assignments, on some property that we bought in Bon Wier, Texas, three hours drive from our home in Houston. Linda and I spent at least a couple of night in that camper each week from August till Christmas when it became too cold for her to want to share those Piney Woods adventures. It remains to be seen if she will want to do it again. Whether she does or not I am grateful that we got to share those travel adventures together.

Here, there, every where. She is my and will remain my forever Valentine. I hope you are enjoying your forever Valentine today, making memories, remembering them, or planning future adventures together.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White