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February 15, 2000
You don't have to be single to hate Valentine's Day.
Bravo, Patrick! The Anti-VD page is excellent.
Yes, I'm married, and therefore have a guaranteed Valentine. But still, no matter how good your relationship is, it never quite lives up to the TV ads, the billboards, the gushy romance stories... I was sitting on the T yesterday when a group of boisterous high school kids got on. Most of them were carrying huge bunches of carnations, with little notes attached. A few had roses, some had cards, and a couple had gifts. A few had one or two scrawny carnations, and a couple were empty-handed. The ones who had the most V-Day loot were teasing the others, telling them how obviously unpopular they were, since nobody sent them roses or brought them presents. It made me cringe -- I've been out of high school for nearly ten years and that Valentine crap = popularity thing still makes me cringe. Add that to the billboards all over the trains and the stations shoving diamonds and Godiva in your face, and even if your significant other is your own personal Casanova, you're going to feel a little inadequate.
Barry isn't into holidays in general -- particularly Valentine's Day. His take on it is "I don't need a special day to be nice to you!" I like that mindset. No, I don't get showered with rose petals (just as well -- the cat would eat them, and cleaning up rose-scented cat barf just isn't terribly romantic) or diamonds (I'm not a jewelry kind of girl, myself -- what little I have, I forget to wear). But I do get hugged first thing when the alarm goes off in the morning, and I get tucked under a blanket on the couch with a cup of tea when I don't feel well. I get laughter at even my dumbest jokes. I get silly little presents just because Barry thought they might amuse me. I get a lot of good things that don't come with a ribbon around them, and are a whole lot nicer than a scrawny carnation.
Posted by Mary Ellen at February 15, 2000 06:43 PM