You Can't Buy My Love

Actually,John answered the puzzle in 20 seconds. And as simple as it is, I was going to renege and not run the list, but I do get some international readers for whom English is a second language. So:
Startling
Starting
Staring
String
Sting
Sing
Sin
In
I

Easy--but still fun. Riddles don't have to be portencious.
***

My father taught me well.

Today is Valentine's Day, largely considered by males to be a commercial extravaganza to eke money out of men. My dad saw it differently, and indeed, lived in a different era.

I've heard a lot of ads for jewelry. Ha! Of course, cards. All for the females.

My dad celebrated any day that encouraged a special expression of love for my mother and me. My mother reciprocated. I am puzzled by the female only drift of today's advertising, because it wasn't that way at home.

Yeah, men sometimes need a little goose to do something romantic. I would say especially in Texas, but that isn't so. Maybe women do, too. But as a child, I didn't feel left out when my dad got Mother a box of chocolates. I did understand the hierchy when I got a bag of heart-shaped redhots as my due. Mom would always share at least one piece. And she did, indeed, LOVE chocolate. Her eyes would dance and her smile was sweet at breakfast when we exchanged cards and gifts. She always had something for him, too. My dad, living in a dress-tie world, loved bowties, the kind you tie yourself. She often would give him one,which he would wear to the office that day. He always tied them a little off-plumb, which he insisted gave them individuality. He gave her mushy Valentine cards, and she returned the favor. And I gave cards to both.

A couple of days ago, I gave cheap, pretty boxes of Valentine chocolates to my granddaughters, and they actually were excited. I got spontaneous "Thank you, Grandma!" responses. That made me feel really good. And made my heart swell. Which I think was the original purpose for Valentine's Day--simply to take a day to do a little something special to make the love swell.

In February, we need it.