Happy Valentine's Day

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

I love Valentine's Day. I've never had a boyfriend, a date, or for that matter plans on Valentine's Day. Nevertheless I still profess that Valentine's Day is my most favorite holiday of all time. I feel like there's a lot of people out there who have turned the day that celebrates love into a day that celebrates romance and being in a relationship. I don't know how this holiday evolved into a "couples only" event (I blame Hallmark) but I find it a little sad that Valentine's Day has become Single Awareness Day. There's actually already a holiday that celebrates being single; it's called St Catherine's Day and it falls on November 25th. So why not celebrate a holiday that venerates love instead of berating your apparently unfortunate fate of being single? I know we all have plenty of people in our lives that we care about, be it friends or family.

I think another reason there's so much angst surrounding this holiday is the fact that it comes right during that time when everyone's really starting to hate winter. At this point we've suffered 3 months of cold and snow and we're having a hard time recalling what the sun looks like. Add on top of that a holiday where we're supposed to be full of love and happiness and I can see why people hate Valentine's Day. Take a moment and visualize what it would be like if this holiday took place in May instead of February. I bet it'd fair a lot better than it does with the critics. Honestly, sometimes it feels like Valentine haters are as bad as an atheist during Christmas.

Of course, the sluggishly cold weather is just another reason why I feel like it's important to celebrate Valentine's Day with happiness and enthusiasm. What better way to push away the winter blues than by spreading love and joy on February 14th? I mean, it's not like celebrating a bunch of dead Americans on President's Day is going to do that.

I know that elementary school children are the best when it comes to celebrating Valentine's Day. In fact, just earlier today as I was walking down the hallway at school a woman with 5 kids with her was walking down the hallway in the opposite direction I was going. As our paths crossed one of her little girls walked up to me, handed me a cookie, and said "Happy Valentine's Day!" It made my day. I said thank you to her and then gave her a Little Mermaid Valentine (because I'm classy and keep Valentine cards with me on this most special of days). You see to little children Valentine's Day isn't about having a significant other. It's about cards and candy and decorating a box to put all their cards and candy in.

 For me Valentine's Day is about showing affection to those I care about and making someone smile by giving them a card.

It also helps that there's an almost obscene amount of red and pink everywhere as I am in love with those two colors.

In any case, I wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day. I hope you've all had a wonderful day!