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Valentine’s Day. Loathe it. At 8 AM on Madison Avenue, I gawk at a woman in a full-length mink coat and a red dress slit up to there, and I want to weep. Same reaction when I see the mob at my corner florist (minimum order: $125). You can be sure dinner won’t find me at one of those restaurants that the press has certified as “romantic.”

 

Like many of you, I suspect, I’m not against romance; my gripe is with pre-programmed, kiss-on-cue, hope-to-get-lucky romance. I’m all for — in no particular order — wild passion, daily heroics, sincere devotion, shared jokes, unspoken communication, dirty e-mail, random presents, not looking over your partner’s shoulder to see who just showed up, candles and music at midnight, knowing how to get it lit in a breeze, private time, monogamy as more than a goal, dancing at concerts, good cheer in the morning, and have I forgotten to mention wild passion?

 

And, this year, I really love the Lesbian Wedding Cake Topper, pictured above. When we reach the point that somebody can have a business making products for gay marriage, we’re getting somewhere.

 

So if  I could choose two Valentines today — beyond my wife and the child, that is —  the first woman I’d raise a glass to is Maureen Walsh, who serves in the legislature in Washington State. Last week she spoke up for the gay marriage bill in her state, and she did it eloquently, with a lot of heart. Not that it matters — well, this year, it does seem to — she’s a Republican.

 

 

My second Valentine would be Chris Gregoire, Governor of Washington State. Yesterday, she signed the bill that makes her state the seventh to allow gay and lesbian marriage. Not that it matters — well, this year, it does seem to — she’s a Democrat.

 

 

And then, because my mood could use elevation, I’m going to watch Van Morrison do “Wavelength” ten or twelve times. No one in the pop realm accesses both the spirituality and physicality better than this moody guy from Belfast. No white guy connects more with soul music. He can sing “baby, baby” and “oh mama” and not make me wince. His band is perfect — or else. And, here, the backup singers smile, the band is tighter than your pants at Thanksgiving, and Van is…well, if you need a definition of “in the zone,” look no further. (“Wavelength” is on a weak album. To download just the song, click here. And then, of course, there’s Astral Weeks.) 

 

 

 “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Martin Luther King Jr. said that. Well, he was on the mountaintop. Down here in the valley, lectured daily by some of the worst people ever to command our attention, it’s easy to despair. So getting on someone’s wavelength and staying there — it’s a comfort. To say the very least.