Valentines Day is tough for a lot of people. For the widowed, it puts a magnifying glass and then a spotlight on the fact that our person is no longer here with us. Often, just getting through a normal, ordinary day, can be challenging. Getting through Valentines Day can be incredibly upsetting and even depressing.

A couple of years ago, I came up with an idea of something I could do on Valentine’s Day, to make people more aware of how tough this day might be for people like myself, while at the same time making them laugh or smile, hopefully. I decided to film myself standing on the streets of NYC, in front of a store that sells flowers, holding a sign that asks people if they might buy me a rose or some flowers, because Im a widow on Valentine’s Day. While doing this, I would react in an overly-dramatic way to the couples walking by me, letting them know over and over again that I would not be receiving any flowers or candy on this holiday.

I wanted to see if a total stranger would actually buy flowers for me, and how many others would ignore me altogether. What happened, was somewhere in between. At first, I was starting to become disheartened, as person after person walked away from me, or didn’t seem to believe that I was telling the truth about being a widow, so didn’t take me seriously. If I went home with no flowers, it would be a depressing experiment, and I would not have wanted to release the video at all. But that is not what happened. Strangers talked with me, cried with me, laughed with me, hugged me, and yes, gave me flowers. The last bit of the video is very sweet, and it brings back my faith in humanity, and reminds me of the kindness of strangers, whenever I should forget. I hope you enjoy this fun and “feel good” video.