Anybodyalone and feeling sorry for themselves today should take comfort that it's not the worstthing that could happen to you onValentine's Day.

Take the five members of the North Side Gang andthe two gang collaborators assembled in a large garage behind the offices of S.M.C. Cartage Company at 2122 North Clark Street on February 14, 1929. That day all seven were fired uponby two Tommy guns, a sawed-off shotgun, and a .45. The shooting continued even afterall seven had hit the floor and until the guns were empty. The killing was fast and bloody. Each of the seven received at least 14 bullets, mostly in the head and torso. The seven men were ripped apart, and two shotgun blasts afterward all but obliterated the faces of two of them.

Take Susan Hamilton just out of the shower on Valentine's Day in 2001. Her surgeon husband came home between surgeries bearing a card, chocolates and a stuffed bear. Prosecutors say Mrs. Hamilton had been strangled with a necktie, hit with a blunt object, and had her face slammed repeatedly onto the marble floor of the master bedroom of the couple's house. Supposedly, the attack had taken about two minutes. There was a hole in Mrs. Hamilton's skull. She evidently took three blows to the head. She apparentlyattempted to remove the necktie from around her neck, but was “taken down almost immediately and spun onto her face.” Marks showed that she had injured her own neck with her fingernails attempting to rip off the necktie. A couple days earlier she had threatened her husband with divorce. She got death, he got life in prison.

Somehow now, Ifeel okay about being alone today. Maybe I'll just put on the stereo, make a pork roast, pour a glass of wine and count my blessings. I hope you all can find some peace today too!