With Valentines passed, I felt it would be appropriate to express my idea’s on this Hallmark Holiday. Every day on February 14th, the day is filled with love and pink and red hearts in all different combinations. But for me, it’s a day I can’t wait to get passed. Some of you may be shocked since “who doesn’t love Valentine’s Day”, but I would have to be one of those people. I find Valentine’s Day to be an excuse for people to buy something expensive and glamorous to show off their love to their significant other. But shouldn’t we be doing that every day anyways? Shouldn’t we be expressing our love every day of the year and not just one day out of 365 days?

Let me take you back to where I believe my hatred for this day began. Growing up I loved receiving Valentines from my classmates and the anticipation of what I would receive in my hand-made mailbox. But I think everything changed for me in Fourth grade when I had my first “boyfriend”. Although, can you really call it a boyfriend in fourth grade? We didn’t even hold hands, it was almost silly at that age looking back now. But, my boyfriend and I coincidentally had been “Dating” around the time of Valentines day and he decided he was going to get me something special. I remember it was sort of weird for kids our age to be dating and get gifts; but we were and he did. We were in class and had just finished passing out to our classmates our Valentine’s when my boyfriend told me to meet him out by his locker. I was super nervous and giddy since I had never have someone care about me so much, let alone have a Valentine’s for me that didn’t consist of a paper card with some silly slogan written on it. When I met him out by his locker, he opened it to reveal a stuffed dog and a box heart- shaped full of different chocolates. I was blown away because my 9 year-old mind couldn’t comprehend what was going on and it felt way to adult for this to be happening to me. I thanked him and awkwardly hugged him before I shoved it into my locker and went back into class. That was my first real Valentine’s and I felt pretty cool. But like all relationships in fourth grade, he broke up with me a week later for another girl (how tragic). He asked for the gifts he gave me back and I was instantly upset. My little heart felt like it had broken into a million pieces. Just a week ago I had felt on cloud nine and now he was demanding his gift back. I informed him that I had already eaten the chocolates but he could have the dog back, I felt weird having it anyways. After that I didn’t really have a boyfriend or was with someone serious enough to do Valentines Day with.

My next memorable Valentine’s was my senior year in high school and I spent the night with my a friend who just so happened to be ex- boyfriend. (We barely dated for a week, so would you even considered it a real relationship?). We spent the night doing the most un-romantic things you could do on a day full of love especially doing it with an ex. We went to the mall and then ended up just getting Culver’s afterwords. But I didn’t eat because I had dinner earlier before we hung out, so he just had food while I ate some of his cheese curds. It was a real romantic night as we sat in that deserted Culver’s at 9:30 at night while I watched him eat as I sat there.

My last two Valentine’s Days since then I’ve been in a relationship with the same person (I finally caught a great boyfriend that stuck around for 14 months with me!). But since we both go to different schools right now and Valentine’s wasn't in our favor for meeting up, I haven’t had the typical Valentines Day you should with a significant other. But in all honesty, i’m okay with it. I’ve realized that we make up in other ways instead of celebrating on the same day as everyone else. This year we went to a nice steak dinner the weekend before;after had doing laundry and running errands earlier that day and then came back to fall asleep. I’m okay with keeping things casual and not making a big show of Valentine’s Day. There’s no purpose to make a post or tell the world how in love you are on February 14th because you should feel that way everyday. I’m not opposed of getting a gift or surprised on that day I just find it to be way overrated. Does it make me a little bitter? Potentially. But being a hopeless romantic, I find it quite amusing that of all day’s I hate the day of Love. But with my track record, I find myself better off avoiding the day and enjoying the love from friends, family and significant other every day of the year.