Elderly Valentine

Let your partner know how much you have enjoyed the past years and how much you crave to have many more of those lovely times. A card is all right, but it doesn't mean that you are taking a great deal of trouble to make a special gift.

Something out of the ordinary would be a hand-made collage of pictures of all the lovable years spent together and doing things together and put into a frame. Include close family if there is one, as recognition to the partnership in raising it.

Write a song and sing it to him/her if you can (more or less) sing. Here the whole family can help out with the lyrics. Maybe you or some other family member can accompany you on the guitar or piano.

Practice it as much as you can, in order to be able to pay attention to the feeling you want to express, not to whether you remember the words or not.

Have an outing to the couple's favourite place, movies, theatre, or theme park, just to remember the "good ole days". Remember to prepare everything beforehand, bookings, tickets, all the necessary paraphernalia so your partner doesn't have to move a finger, other than pack up the essentials for the outing or getaway.

Another option, that has been suggested by readers, is to have an outing where the couple had their first date. Good to remember that first emotion, the feeling of anticipation that invaded all of your being. . . and what became of that: So many lovely years!