It being Valentine's Day this Sunday, I felt it was appropriate to dedicate this week's Captain’s Log to the lovers. However, in no way do I want to limit this theme to petty romance, flowers and chocolates. Rather, this is dedicated to all the TRUE LOVERS out there. Lovers of life. Lovers of nature. Lovers of humankind. Lovers of the universe, if you will.

I tried to do a little research into the history of Valentine's Day, but my findings were conflicting and inconclusive, so I decided not to go too far into it and spare you the boring details. Let's just say that a bunch of so-called "saints" whose names were "Valentinus", "Valentini" and "Valentino" were all executed as part of a brutal Anti-Christian campaign during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius Gothicus around the 3rd century A.D. Folklore later evolved to suggest that Saint Valentine (San Valentino) was a priest or bishop who performed secret marriage rituals or passed notes between Christian lovers jailed by the evil Emperor, and that he was buried on February 14th. Fast forward to modern times and we now have a consumer-driven holiday that has hopeless husbands like me scrambling to buy the last remaining bouquet of roses at the flower shop on the 14th of February of each year. This year, (thanks to this post) I remembered to go and get my wife the flowers before they were all sold out!

But like I said, flowers and chocolates aside... let's explore what love really means to us on a deeper level. 

I went searching for quotes and I really connected with this one from Zora Neale Hurston...

"Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place."

Isn't that a great way to put it? You can't hide from love. It's a force so powerful that once we feel it's presence, it exposes us, raw. Or more accurately put by Hurston... it exposes our soul.

If you're lucky enough to be spending Valentine's Day with your one true love, or with the ones you love most... then I urge you to take a moment to acknowledge that. Close your eyes and really FEEL how lucky you are to have all that love so close to you in your life right now. Perhaps you're not so lucky, and someone or something you love very much is far away from you right now... or no longer with you. 

Perhaps there's a sadness or longing mixed in with those emotions. But I can assure you... there's love there too! And as we concluded above - you just can't hide from that. This is why it's so important to be grateful for the time you DID get to spend with those who can't be with you now. Every memory is like a forever-permanent love tattoo - coaxing your soul out of its hiding place. I encourage you to give in to that, and feel the love wash over you. 

Marcu Tulius Cicero, a Roman academic, statesman, and philosopher once said,

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others."

I have to agree with him on that one. For any of us to be fortunate enough to feel the power and grace of love... we must therefore be grateful for it. It is in gratitude that we find the deepest impact that love can have on us. Whether that's love for one-another, or simply the love of existence, and consciousness in its purest form. 

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Signing off...

Cap'n Mark

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PS: This week we were reminded once again about why we love our company so much. We received a notice from the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation encouraging us to participate in an awareness campaign aimed at Canada’s youth.

Team Broady will be making a symbolic donation in support of this initiative. We’ve decided to donate $14 for each day of the month of February. ($14 x 28 = $392)

If you wish to contribute to this campaign as well, simply CLICK HERE

100% of your gift will fund programs that teach young people in Canada about dating violence, sexual assault, and how to build safe and healthy relationships.