Who needs Hallmark on Valentine’s Day?

If you thought this is about not sending Valentine’s Day cards, you would be wrong.

When Valentine’s Day rolls around, I admit I am a dyed-in-the-wool romantic.

By this time next week, Cupid’s big day will have come and gone, and so too will have all the electronic messages sent with such fervor and passion.

With the great efficiency and speed of today’s social media, people will have emailed, tweeted, IM’d, and more, their passionate intentions of affection, love and undying devotion to their significant other –– or others.

Some messages will be funny, others poignant and still others outrageous.

But with all the whiz, bang, flash, zip-a-dee-doo-dah, and instantaneous professions of adoration, something will be lacking –– the passion, the spark, the magic, the tender caring that true love elicits and deserves.

And that is why I am making the case for the good, old fashioned from-my-heart to-your-hand Valentine’s Day card.

The kind of cards that dads gave moms and moms gave dads.

The kind of cards that grandparents exchanged well into their golden years.

The cards that were found long after those very special people were gone – cards, edges yellowed with age, with a lingering musty scent of years gone by, tucked lovingly away in a drawer or keepsake box.

Giving an old fashioned card may not be as sensory-affecting as flashing e-cards, Facebook status updates or Twitter tweets.

But cards have a lasting, enduring quality of substance that speaks to relationships that are lasting, enduring and are about truly caring for someone else.

It used to be that everyone wrote letters, postcards and even thank you notes.

But in today’s electronic age, letters are rare, with the exception of the impersonal mass marketing genre that stuff our mailboxes to overflowing with deals we’re told we can’t afford to miss.

And I can’t remember the last time I received a postcard in the mail.

Sadly, thank you notes have been on the endangered species list for decades.

This brings me to Valentine’s Day cards –– actual cards with envelopes –– that are selected with care, and which transform heartfelt feelings that you may find difficult expressing, into words.

Cards reinforce that deeper affection that can’t be conveyed by shooting a text, twittering a tweet or posting a status update to potentially hundreds of "valentines,” also known as “your friends,” “your contacts” and “your followers.”

A Valentine’s card in the purest sense is meant for that one and only love of your life, and it carries a sentiment intended to pass from one heart to another.

The card needn’t be fancy or expensive, but it should embrace that special bond that only the two of you share.

A memory can be slipped inside a card –– a ticket stub from a special occasion, a photo from a memorable moment you shared or even a dab of his or her favorite fragrance.

Try that with an electronic message.

A Valentine’s Day card is an envelope of time and memories, waiting to be filled.

It has substance that you can touch and feel and hold close.

And whether attached to the refrigerator door with a magnet, left on the nightstand, or carefully tucked away with special treasures, a card is a reminder of the lasting and enduring love you have for that special someone.

And that my friends, is why most of us need Hallmark on Valentine’s Day.