Raise your hand if you remember those Valentine's Day notes you wrote for your classmates and your classmates wrote you. Blink twice if you remember that little Valentine box that you spent a day in class decorating with your peers.
Now that you have your hand in the air and your eyes blinking in rhythm has been disturbed, you probably don't see Valentine's Day the same way anymore.
Some people call it a Hallmark holiday, some people feel even more lonely, single, and cynical on this day where a heart-shaped everything is always on full display.
More and more people, as they grow older, find Valentine's Day a faux— a day of just buying dumb gifts, feeling the pressure of topping last Valentine's Day if you're dating someone or the pressure of not getting anyone anything because you're not.
Many single people hate Valentine's Day, but I'm not one of them. Valentine's Day is a celebration of love and romance. Even if restaurants make more money, stores sell more chocolate and jewelry— even if Hallmark writes himself a card for a job well done in sales— it's important to take time and celebrate it at least one day a year, your special loved one.
If you're single, celebrate yourself! Celebrate the fact that you have friends who love you, celebrate the possibility of love on Valentine's Day someday. Celebrate the fact that there are people out there who are so happy and so in love. One day, it will also be you, and it's nice to support each other.
Come to think of it, there are so many ways to celebrate Valentine's Day with your friends or with yourself. Buy those gifts or make those reservations for yourself. It doesn't have to be pathetic or annoying — it can be beautiful, self-enriching, and self-powerful. If you go with your friends out to dinner, it can be fun and therapeutic.
Now, if you truly are set on being cynical, love Valentine's Day for the fact that you can sit with your friends, feel bad for yourselves and throw yourselves a fun pity party. It's all what you make of it.
As for me, I love Valentine's Day and I am looking forward to eating chocolate with my friends, giving them Valentine cards the way I used to when I was in elementary school. We were all single then too, and we didn't care— we had fun on this red and pink holiday. So why can't we do that now?
Raise your hand and blink twice if you're with me!