Blog #177: Annual Defense of Valentine's Day

(Written after eating a heart shaped bagel and while listening to cheesy pop love songs)


It's Valentine's Day! Or, as singles of all ages tend to revert to calling it "Singles Awareness Day". However, I have hardly been aware of my own single status this weekend due to having filled my social calendar to the max with opportunities to spend time loving the people I love. It started with a Valentine's Eve date with the coolest big kids and sweetest baby girl ever to be:

There, glad to get those gratuitous proud aunt pictures out of the way. There will be more after tonight because I have a very special dinner date with my bro & sis in law and 2 favorite single digit boys. "Aunt Riss" is my favorite of titles and the one of which I'm the most proud, despite having done nothing really to earn it. Tomorrow, for a post Valentine's Day celebration, I'm having chinese buffet lunch and seeing a movie with my Grandma. Love is all around.

I feel like everyone has a lot to say about Valentine's Day. It's one of those days that is pretty polarizing. (I blog about it nearly annually) People who DO have that special someone feel an inordinate amount of pressure to demonstrate their love one way or the other and people who DON'T have a significant other feel pissy and hyper aware of their lack of romantic love.  I would like to get down on one knee and propose that we see things just a pinch differently.

While there's certainly nothing wrong with wanting and hoping to have a special someone in life, it's ridiculous to think that life is somehow incomplete until that box is checked. The problem here is in the equating of "singleness" with "loneliness". As one who is currently dateless, I feel the need to point out that I am definitely not lacking in the "people I love" department. Celebrating that love, to me, sounds like fun! Celebrating anything, to me, sounds like fun. If it doesn't sound fun to you, that's cool too.  

It's just a day - not a judgement on your life.

And, if you accept that simple fact, it should be easy to just let it pass without making a point of being negative about it, regardless of your relationship status, yes? 

For the record: yes, it is basically a commercial holiday designed to get people to spend money, much like mothers day, fathers day, halloween, etc. This is not worth pointing out because it's not news to anyone, and it's silly to use such a thing as an excuse to be bitter. Who cares? Life is both short and long. It's too short to waste time feeling negatively unnecessarily. It is too long to develop patterns of negativity to continue for its duration. I'm going to live life being ridiculous and silly and prone to enjoying pointless things because it's much better to be remembered for loving than hating.

If you need me, I'm spending my day at work listening to love songs and decorating cards to hand out to the people I'm lucky enough to have in my life. LOVE IS GREAT.

Roses are Red.

Violets are Blue.

This blog post was long.

Coffee.