Yesterday was a bit of a brutal day around our house. It was Valentine’s Day and there is a single lady around our house who is none to happy about it. Although she is turning 15 this weekend, she is convinced that her chance at romance has passed her by. She is a member of the as-yet-unrecognized “Forever Alone” club at her all-girls high school. When I said, “Happy Valentine’s Day” to her over breakfast, she growled, “You mean ‘Happy Biggest Joke of a Holiday Ever.’” Oh, so that’s how it’s going to be, I thought. Got it.

Honestly, what can a mother, or father say to convince their single, teenage daughters that someday, they will fall in love and more significantly, be fallen in love with? Not much. I know, because my parents tried. No matter how many times you say that someone would be lucky to have her, she doesn’t believe you. We can say that she is beautiful until we are blue in the face, but until the mirror, or a boy makes her see it differently, it’s not going to count. To praise her intelligence, sense of humor, and kind heart is just adding salt to the wound.

So although I wanted to resist the platitudes, I couldn’t help myself. I made her a valentine and told her that someone will be lucky to have her. I told her that she was beautiful, intelligent, funny and kind. She might have flicked it aside yesterday, but I have no doubt it will end up in a drawer, or a box, where she will find it one day, before she goes off to college and a life of her own. I pray she will read it over and know that I was right, at least about something.

There’s a great line in the new movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.  Dev Patel says to a disappointed hotel guest, “In India we have a saying. ‘In the end, it will be all right.’ So, if it is not all right, it means it is not the end yet.”

It’s not the end yet, Keara. It’s just the beginning. You’ve got a lifetime of love ahead of you and it really will be all right.