Venus and Mars are all right tonight.

Happy Valentine's Day, if you're into that kind of thing. I loathed it, of course, when I was single; none of my boyfriends were given to romantic gestures of any kind, and at the time - sitting at the office, watching my coworkers walk by with lavish bouquets from doting suitors - this really bothered me. Now that I'm married, I could not care less about Valentine's Day. Just goes to show... it's not flowers and candy and cards we want, it's simply someone to love and share our lives with.

Funnily enough, the spouse and I got engaged on Valentine's Day 1993. It wasn't terribly romantic. We sat out on the stoop of my little duplex and ate takeout Chinese (okay, so maybe there was some champagne involved), and later got to talking about the practical advantages of getting married. Before we knew what hit us, we were planning a wedding. All without the benefit of the diamond-ring, down-on-one-knee MGM version of romance... and very, very satisfying.

Well, here's to love this Valentine's Day, and with Venus in Capricorn trine Mars in Taurus, I imagine most will want tangible and impressive expressions of their sweetheart's affection. More power to you if that's what you want and what you can get. But if you're on your own this Valentine's Day, take it from an old married lady: someday you'll find someone sweet who shows their love to you every day, in a thousand small and practical ways, with real, goofy, and spontaneous affection. And chances are, you'll hardly notice Valentine's Day at all.