Valentine Fun Facts
The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately one billion 
valentines are sent each year worldwide, making the day the second largest card-sending holidayof the year behind Christmas.
Research reveals that more than half of the U.S. population celebrates Valentine’s Day by purchasing a greeting card.
Women purchase 85% of all valentines.
In order of popularity, Valentine’s Day cards are given to Teachers, children, mothers, wives, sweethearts and pets.
Parents receive 1 out of every 5 valentine.
73% of people who buy Valentine’s Day flowers are men.
The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare’s lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine’s Day.
The expression “wearing your heart on your sleeve” comes from a Valentine’s Day party tradition. Young women would write their names on slips of paper to be drawn by young men who would then wear a woman’s name on his sleeve to claim her as his valentine.
A town named Valentine exists in both Texas and Nebraska. In Nebraska Valentine is the portal to Sand Hills, a tall-grass prairie with a population of just 3000 people.
You can send your Valentine a Valentine from Valentine for Valentine’s Day. Valentine, Texas is the only adobe post office that still exists. Place your St. Valentine’s Day card(s) - correctly addressed to the proper recipient(s) in a pre-stamped envelope. Place it in another envelope and mail it to Postmaster, Valentine, Texas 79854, USA. The postmaster will return the mail insuring that a legible Valentine postmark is visible on each letter mailed.
from the internet
When Cupid strikes us with his bow and arrow this February 14th the whole nation, nay the whole world is going to be smitten with the inimitable universal sentiment—Love! But this time let us learn to nurture the kind of Love that goes hand in hand with commitment, the indispensable constituent that helps in building long-lasting relationships!
When this Valentine’s Day dawns, keep Love in your heart and flaunt it frequently. Profess your true love to the one whom you adore, but bear in mind that love without commitment is like a shrub without flowers. There is no fragrance and no vibrancy in such a relationship! Establishing a true and loving relationship and being committed to it will keep you striding ahead positively recharged in all the fields of your life!
When we love someone, we expect to be loved in return! But don’t tag love and expectation together. Shower love selflessly, and you will be suitably rewarded with unprompted attention and affection. The key to getting love reciprocated is to provide it in abundance and not expect anything in return. You will be surprised by the amount that you reclaim when you are least expecting it!
Love ought to be unconditional. Love isn’t something you have; it is something you do. Love is not what you retain; it is what you give away!
An important facet of Love is learning to listen and to help when problems confront your beloved! Life is not always a bed of roses, contrary to what valentine cards may suggest. We all go through rough patches. So be ready to help others through their troubles and calamities!
Love is indubitably an emotion with myriad forms, it can manifest itself as calm as the water of a lake, or it can run frenzied like the wild river; it can dowse us like a gale, or it can please us like the placid breeze. We begin with naive love for every person in our infancy and soon move to selective fondness in our youth. Then, as we age, we revert to our youthful zeal of trying to show attachment to everyone.
It is strange that we allocate days to love our spouses, our fathers, our mothers, our teachers, our grandparents and even our neighbors! Does it mean that on the other days our love for these people diminishes? Isn’t Love a burning devotion, that occurs in our hearts and helps us spread cheerfulness around the world, not from time to time, but all the time?
Happy Valentine’s Day – (every day)!
Vidya Rangan