I realize it is a trope for single girls to say they "hate Valentine's Day". I have to admit...I said this. Every Valentine's Day. For the first 19 years of my life. But for the past 5 years, I have been hate-free. And let me tell you why.
1. I finally actually researched the other meaning of V-day for February 14th. I remember at my high school there would be random girls talking about this celebration and handing out lollipops, but I didn't really process. Then, my freshman year in college, I started volunteering at a domestic violence shelter, and we organized an official V-day event. My sophomore year, I baked vagina cookies and handed them around to people, spreading the good news that February 14th is about more than heart-shaped everythings and cheesy cards.
 |
| A Love That Lasts Forever |
2. I got a long-term Valentine. Sophomore year, 5 of my girlfriends and I decided we were not waiting around for dates, and we went on wonderful dates with each other. My friend Lara and I drew each other's names and had quite possibly the best date of my life. We dressed up all fancy, went to dinner and then watched some horribly cheesy movie. That has become the tradition. Every year since then, at least one of us has been dating someone else (actually I think she's been dating someone else every year, and I've been dating someone else at least 2/5...) but we are always each other's Valentine. Last year and this year, we've been separated by half a country. But no matter! We skype and watch bad Netflix movies. As a side note, this kind of thing is probably what also made certain members of my family more or less convinced I was a lesbian. I guess I see where it might come from.
3. I decided to not let Hallmark determine my life. And I mean this in the opposite way of how bitter single girls usually mean it. Yes, Valentine's Day is something of an invented holiday. And yes, we do spend entirely too much money because someone tells us the time has come to be romantic. But really, almost every holiday was invented by someone, somewhere. There are super fundamentalist Christians who refuse to celebrate Christmas because it is not actually Jesus' birthday and the Romans just wanted to make it coincide with a pagan festival. I think this is ridiculous. It's a day we have arbitrarily chosen to celebrate the nativity and give each other fun presents and wear silly sweaters. I like all of those things, so I am going to celebrate the hell out of Christmas. If you've ever visited my house when I've had the chance to be part of decorating, you know this to be true. In the same way, February 14th is a day we've arbitrarily chosen to celebrate love and give each other candy and wear hearts and red and things. Red looks good on me, I love candy and I support people being in love. I will not let the fact that Hallmark makes a ridiculous profit deter me from celebrations.
4. February 15th. February 15th, chocolate suddenly becomes insanely cheap. And it is awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment