Happy Valentine’s Day love buttons! I was just face spacing, and am quite impressed with the nice mix of bitter vs sappy facebook statuses this year; it’s quite the nice mix. It very well could have something to do with the stage of life my peers and I are in now, but there seems to be a significant downgrade in the amount of “suck it cupid” commentary amongst everyone these days. I guess the evolution of one’s feelings towards Valentine’s day is similar to the evolution of one’s feelings towards the lunchbox. You start out thinking they’re pretty cool, then go through a stage where they are the stupidest thing ever and you’d rather die than be weighed down with one, then eventually, when you’re fully matured, find yourself carrying one again and actually kind of liking it. Same goes with the Valentines. Ahhh, the circle of life. (Lion King reference yields -20 cool points. I’m in an official cool point deficit).
I personally put the anti-Valentiners in the same category as the Emos. They try so damn hard to go against the grain, yet by doing so they inadvertently acknowledge the existence of the grain even more so than the people who just go with it. (This could also explain the apparent plethra of splinters up their asses). People... the cashier at the liquor store doesn’t care if you’re buying that bottle of wine to get it on or to drink with your girls status post Sex and the City watching to go “awwwwwwwwww” to the “who needs a man when you have your girls!” toast. Nope, doesn’t matter to Mr Cashier man; either way, you’re spending $4.99 (I know, I’m classy)...and either way, he’s still counting down the hours till the time he gets to go home and play video games...and Hallmark still makes a killing. Thus, you really didnt make a good point to anyone with your extreme effort to un-celebrate this day of love.
I fully agree that Valentine’s day is an ingenious marketing ploy on the part of the chocolate and card companies...but I don’t think any individual’s dedication to make this day all about their personal lonesome misery is going to change that. And I mean honestly, is the holiday really all that bad? Millions of dollars are spent to celebrate love. It really could be so much worse. We could be celebrating things much more detrimental like mayonnaise, or raw tomatoes (ick), or the end of the world (by the way, I just found out that ,per Christian extremists, Judgement Day will fall on my birthday this year.... what does one wear to their 26th birthday/the Rapture?) But no, we don’t celebrate these things; we celebrate love.
Most people interpret this day as an opportunity/obligation to wow their significant other and score brownie points, which I can admit gets over the top (I have to admit, some of the extremely sappy posts made me roll my eyes). Other people rebel and rationalize that they don’t have to do shit because every day should be like Valentine’s day. Which is a nice thought...but truthfully the same people that make the effort to say that out loud are also usually the same people who treat the people closest to them like shit 365 days of the year...ohh the irony. Others look at the day as the world’s ploy to target them individually to make them feel lonely. Then there’s those who take it over the top and look at this day as the maker or breaker of their relationship’s future. Everyone’s gone maaaad!
I love awkward moments...I create them on an everyday basis so I’ve learned to just embrace them. What I love most about this holiday is the fact that I seem to make people uncomfortable. People just aren’t ok with the single girl who is neither a) anti-Valentines, looking to bust Cupid’s nuts with a 2x4 or pint of icecream or b) so pro-Valentines that she perseverates 364 days of the year on finding one in prep for the next year’s V-day. I’m neither passionately for nor against this holiday...I think people get over the top on both ends of it. But if I had to pick sides, I’d say I’m for it ...I mean, its a day dedicated to love. How can one hate that, unless one is so miserable in their own existence that they can’t stand to see other people happy? (and that sounds like a personal problem). I have to admit, it is pretty cool to watch a shitshow dedicated entirely to love...for one day at least, people kind of seem to like each other, or at least pretend to and are at least nice to one another.
So, in today’s grand total...as a by-product of other people’s discomfort with a single girl on V-Day, I got...3 offers to be “matched up” (someone please tell me the social etiquette for politely declining a date with a coworker’s family member), an offer to be wed to an 8 year old, and a bag of cashews ( a gift from my brother). I do appreciate the offers, but what the world doesn’t get is that I feel more loved, and am more loving, than I’ve ever felt before in my life. Today I didn’t go on a hot date with some rich skeez who bought be a Coach purse in hopes to get me in the sack circa 2006. I didn’t get together with my girlfriends and eat ice cream whilst drowning in my sorrows. I didn’t sit alone, curled up in a ball in my closet, rocking back and forth whilst stuffing my face with Dorito therapy. What I did: I treated myself to some kickass Chik-Fil-A methodone ( I mean lemonade, sorry, get them confused, as that lemonade is my crack), bought my 86 year old landlady some flowers and made her some strawberries dipped in chocolate whilst rocking out to Maroon 5 in my kitchen. ...and you know what? It was one of the best Valentine’s days I’ve ever had. True joy is found in having lemonade running through your veins whilst watching a lonely old lady cry out of happiness, just because someone thought to make her some damn strawberries on Valentine’s Day . Geesh, it was the least I could do for her; that lady spoils me each and every day.
So, rather than V-day bashing, I celebrated love, so I gave love, and got love in return. There’s that circle of life thing again. Someone please explain to me how eating a pint of ice cream and having man-hating sessions with your girl friends accomplishes the same thing. So, total cheeseball moment, but this Valentine’s day, I decided to make the world my valentine...there’s no rulebook that says you have to make just one special person your Valentine. I didn’t go around giving hugs and chocolate, but I did make a conscious effort to be grateful for the good in my life. In turn, I felt such an overflowing feeling of warm-fuzziness that I was more loving and open to those around me, and thus attracted more loving interactions throughout the day. Pretttty cool turnaround I must say. So, my new philosophy....when feeling down in the dumps, do something for someone sorrier than yourself...then come back and try to massage you’re lonely ego afterwards. I betcha it’ll be harder status post nice deed. I’d even venture to say that you feel so good about yourself for what you did, that you become a big ball of sunshine and thus become more attractive to the world...who knows , you might even catch yourself a Valentine for 2012 (assuming the world doesn’t end before then on my birthday). Until next time, like it or not, I looooooove you on this beautiful Valentine’s Day!
Love always,
Sara
PS- The author would like to dedicate this post to grilled-cheese-lunch inspiration provided by the FUNNEST star trooper Jedi (sorry, couldn’t resist one last funnest)... To many more grilled cheese conversations...(or at least until one of us makes our millions and can drop back to part time)...
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