February...the month of Love...."singles awareness day"

i have to start this somewhat sappy...so i decided a classic poem that i enjoy!!
How Do I Love Thee?
By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise
. I love with a passion put to use
in my old grief, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
with my lost saints; I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! And, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

February is one of the biggest holidays celebrated in the United States. There are so many odd little facts, that i had to share them!!
Valentine Cards

• Every year around 1 billion Valentine Cards are sent across. After Christmas it’s a single largest seasonal card-sending occasion.
  

• Teachers receive the most Valentine's Day cards, followed by children, mothers, wives, and then, sweethearts. Children between ages 6 to 10 exchange more than 650 million Valentine's cards with teachers, classmates, and fagmily members.

• Received Valentine Flowers? Well I guess you are a woman. Of the 73% of people who buy Valentine's Day flowers are men, while only 27 percent are women.
  

• A single perfect red rose framed with baby's breath is named by some florists as a "signature rose," and is the preferred choice for most for giving on Valentine's Day, anniversaries and birthdays.
  
  
• The red rose was the favorite flower of Venus, the Roman goddess of love. The color red stands for strong romantic feelings making the red rose the flower of love.

• Cupid is a symbol of Valentine’s Day. Cupid was associated with Valentine’s Day because he was the son of Venus, the Roman god of love and beauty. Cupid often appears on Valentine cards and gift tokens holding a bow and arrows as he is believed to use magical arrows to arouse feelings of love.

• Verona, the Italian city where Shakespeare's play lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters every year sent to Juliet on Valentine's Day.
  

• The oldest surviving love poem till date is written in a clay tablet from the times of the Sumerians, inventors of writing, around 3500 B.C.

• In the Middle Ages young men and women drew the names from a bowl to see who would be their Valentine. They would wear this name pinned on their sleeves for one week. This was done so that it becomes easy for other people to know your true feelings. This was known as "to wear your heart on your sleeve".

• On February 14th wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on Valentine’s Day in Wales. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favorite Valentine Decorations on the wooden spoons. This Valentine decoration meant, "You unlock my heart!"
  

• The most beautiful and incredible gift of love is the monument Taj Mahal in India. Built by Mughal Emperor Shahjahan as a memorial to his wife it stands as the emblem of the eternal love story. Work on the Taj Mahal began in 1634 and continued for almost 22 years and required the labor of 20,000 workers from all over India and Central Asia.
  
  
• In America, the pilgrims used to sent confections, such as sugar wafers, marzipan, sweetmeats and sugar plums, to their affianced. Lot of value was placed on these gifts because they included what was then a rare product, sugar. After the late 1800's, beet sugar became widely used and more available, and sweet gifts continued to be cherished and enjoyed.
  
  
• Amongst the earliest Valentine's Day gifts were candies. The most common were chocolates in heart shaped boxes.