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Is love in the air for you? I feel such warmth and empathy towards old friends, ailing friends, new friends, and of course my family. I think in particular because times are difficult and frightening, the connections we have to our people are important. But romance just seems heightened around Valentine’s Day, which is why I asked Daniel Jones, the head of Love – well actually the editor of “Modern Love” – the New York Times column, the WBUR podcast, and now the Amazon tv series to be this week’s guest.

And now, my five things:

1. Lunch with friends. What a phenomenal idea! Very often I spend whole days alone at home writing. Don’t feel sorry for me. I could never be too productive at a coffee shop or co-working space where every time someone crossed the threshold I would look up, (even knowing that I wouldn’t recognize the person). So I feel fortunate I can do what I do – other than the podcast tapings themselves – in my apartment. But I can forget that I’m allowed to break up the day and my solitude, and it’s kind of exciting. It’s so nice to get a jolt of warmth from a friend’s energy. Or get a jolt of oxytocin from socializing. *Special runner up: Dinner with friends and breakfast with friends.

2. This Thread, on Twitter: By Cindy Otis

How I needed to read this! A question I’ve been asking a lot is how do we separate ourselves from the awful events of the last few weeks? Trump’s retaliatory and inflamed rhetoric and deeds are despicable. But thinking about them seems to bring me down to a place of despair. Ms. Otis’s words brought me comfort; and note they are from 2018. (She has agreed to visit our podcast.) (read the full tweet here)

3. Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman. Hero. Patriot. Brave. Purple Heart winner. Honest public servant. In my book these things elevate him way above a coward who avoided service. We all know it.

4. Your Feedback. For the moment, those of you who have been writing in your opinions about the format of the program have had me change or change back some of my ideas for going forward. I appreciate that you take the time to write; that you care enough to want to invest in the podcast, and I hear you.

5. Resistors. People who have altered the course of their lives and careers to say they won’t go along with a terrible despot. People like Claude Taylor (@True Facts Stated and Mad Doc Pac), Professor Laurence Tribe, Diana Weymar, Molly Jong-Fast, George Conway, Richard Painter, Holly Figueroa O'Reilly, the people behind theoutrage.com, and many, many others.