...But you know what? Someone else wrote about this way better than I could. So in efforts to not reinvent the wheel, etc, here is my favorite writing about Valentine's Day. It's written by one of my favorite people, and this is from her old blog. I'm not sure if she would prefer to keep this anonymous or not, so for now I'll just call her A. I had to dig it out of my mailbox, and judging by how far back I had to go, it was written in February of 2006. I had sent it to my mom and then she sent it back to me the year I was in Rome with this message:
I KEPT THIS AND REREAD IT AGAIN
CELEBRATE LOVE!! WE ALL LOVE AND MISS YOU VERY MUCH
HOPE ALL IS WELL IN THE LAND OF AMOUR
WEAR PINK OR RED AND SMILE
CIAO!
XOXOX ME
Celebrate love, indeed. Here it is:
"Lots of people love Halloween. Others- usually, but definitely not limited to the Irish persuasion- love St. Patrick's Day. I actually hear that you don't actually have to be Irish to appreciate the drunken debauchery of said holiday; nor do you have to be a leprechaun. But, no matter the preference, most people our age share a dislike in the holiday of love. St. Valentine's Day, oooh! If you ask us why, you hear a lot of answers: it's superficial, it glorifies relationships instead of being your awesome single self, it discriminates against the color blue, it's too damn expensive (all that chocolate and jewelry and lingerie... no beer money). I consider these holidays the Extraneous Holidays; that is, they are not Thanksgiving, Easter, or Christmas. And usually, everyone has one particular favorite.
I have friends who live for Halloween; they love agonizing over a costume, the spooking, the candy consumption and the easy excuse to dress as a Slutty ______ (guys included). I myself am somewhat impartial to it, mostly due to a negative experience as Batgirl at the age of five. St.Patty's Day doesn't really get me, either- green isn't my color, and I can never drink as much as the people around me, due to my weight. Plus, I'm not Irish. I feel like a poser.
No, my favorite Extraneous Holiday is Valentine's Day. (I know, it's kind of shocking. Don't you feel betrayed? Like I've been deceiving you all this time?)
I actually just realized this when I flipped my calendar onto the first of February. My stomach did a little flip as I realized we were entering the home stretch to Valentine's... and I was feeling excitement. I admit, I love Valentine's Day for many superficial reasons but mostly for the color scheme. Pink. Red. White. These colors together just make me so damn happy; I love walking to a CVS store and seeing all the tacky red, pink and white hearts, bears, jumping frogs, you name it. It's like a big circus exploded with chocolate and hearts and I just love it. In high school, lockers used to be decorated with crepe paper and I was so happy to walk the halls in the streams of pink and white. Even the balloons that have tacky messages make me grin.
This, I believe, proves that I have deep inner emotions.
That said, I don't love Valentine's for the typical reasons that most V-Day girls cite. If you do, by chance, run into a Yay-Valentine's-Gal on the street, she inevitably a) has a boyfriend, b) is very close to sealing the deal to getting one, or c) has expectations for receiving a Valentine, candy, or lingerie from a secret admirer. This is probably natural, but I don't really care about myself within the Valentine scheme; that is, I don't put myself into the holiday and think, "What will someone do for me?" For as long as I can remember, I've just loved the excuse to wear pink (every Valentine's, I- yeah, this is sad- dress up and wear pink or red), I love sending people Valentines and buying them crappy chocolates or big, glittery hearts. I love this "superficial" excuse to be over-the-top and express my I-fucking-loooooove-you feelings. To me, if you're single, it's just good old fashioned fun. If you're not, it's an extra opportunity to be like, "Oh, by the way, I'm lucky to have you..."
I've had my fair share of attached-couple Valentine's Days, and I never had huge expectations because I'm not the kind of gal that lusts for flowers, chocolates, bras... wait, no I do lust for those. But there were amazing surprises- a teacher once came to find me in the library because flowers had been delivered to the school for me and she said, "Alexandra! Someone must love you; they're so beautiful! Come see!" Sure, it was over the top and expensive, but you know what? That was really nice. These gestures remind you that you're loved, appreciated; that you make someoneelse's life better. So I don't begrudge couples around the world their
Valentine's Day; their special 24 hours to coo and goo over each other. Love is good, right? Absofuckinglutely.
Woody Allen once said, "The heart wants what the heart wants." I absolutely agree, and feel that Valentine's Day is a bit of recognition for the human heart. Like, on February 14th, we give our hearts- which sometimes lead us astray, cause us insane pain, but so much joy- a huge round of applause. Sure, it's superficial with all of those cellophane-wrapped chocolate hearts and conversation hearts (I love those, seriously) and stuffed animals (I hate stuffed animals, never buy me one, ever). But underneath the glitter and the six-billion bows, there's some
genuine emotion that I don't believe comes out enough. Sometimes people use V-Day to say what they couldn't otherwise; sometimes they are reminded by the holiday that other persons make life worth living, not... cars,
jobs, whatever else. And that's not bad at all, is it? If you consider that many dead presidents get national holidays, why not love? Does it not make the world go round?
I read yesterday that over two billion dollars is spent by the American public on chocolate for the Valentine's Day holiday. I thought, Good. I think it would be sad if people didn't celebrate love. Pink deserves to be worn; chocolate needs to be eaten. And love, with all of it's pain, still matters more than anything else.
So I'll wear my pink with pride. And I'll buy Angus a chew-toy or something. "
2 comments:
Totally Ally S.
Love the surprise exploding hearts!!
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