When I was thirteen I could be found at the roller skating rink on winter weekend nights with a fair amount of frequency. I loved to skate but though I went with, or met up with friends, I skated alone for the most part. Partly because I disliked linking arms with people whose balance was questionable and because I enjoyed moving fast. It wouldn’t be apparent today in my wobbly demeanor at the ice rink, but when I was thirteen, I moved with no small amount of grace and the swiftness of a child of Hermes.

There was only one time when I would skate hand in hand and that was couple’s skate. I can recall only a time or two when I was approached by a boy during the obligatory date skate. Both times, he was someone I didn’t know and never saw again, but it was thrilling in that budding sexuality sense of the age.

The song the dj usually played was Color My World by Chicago. It is, in retrospect, one of the worst songs ever. It’s a dirge really with plaintive lyrics that lend it an off key sound which makes me wonder if being tone deaf is related to growth spurts and hormonal surges of the teen years. In spite of the epic awfulness of the song, it is the feeling that counts and so I name this my number three of love songs.

Number two arrived during my MTV university years. Rarely was I asked to dance when the slow songs began during my dance club days. The song I longed to dance to more than anything was Spandau Ballet’s True*. Another truly horrific song in terms of lyrics because they make no sense what-so-ever. Again, it was all about feelings. The melody is simultaneously dreamy and sweeping you off your feet in a swooning kind of way, but that doesn’t make the song any less sea breeze through feathered hair and boys in pastels.

My number one was difficult to narrow down. I have sappy, cheesy, girly, weepy, sexy and person specific to choose from, but I felt to honor the holiday was the way to go.

Love should be giddy and gooey.

Since this is not Rob’s idea of romantic music, I dedicate the following to him:

*I never danced with anyone to this particular song though I was asked, but as the young men asking were literally random strangers – I declined. I never slow danced with boys I didn’t know and rarely with my few dates.