Tales of Valentine's Day Past

Several posts today have reflected disdain for St. Valentine's day. It's true, the only time this date deems appropriate is when you are in love or otherwise and have a special someone to share the cards, candies, and flowers to celebrate the consumer oriented day it was never really probably meant to be. Highly doubtful whenever the purpose of Valentine's Day was declared did anyone think "Now if I could only come up with the best retail stuffed animal and paint gaudy hearts all over it, sell it for $30 and call it L-O-V-E love!". Am positive there was a real meaning to it years ago. Why not show people you love and appreciate them throughout the year? Why do we have to wait for Hallmark to tell us when to do so?

Here are some examples of how Valentine's Day has been spent in the past:

• The Black Friday celebration at the Phone Booth. Several vodka tonics were had and eventually most everyone at the table ended up kissing someone else surrounding it. At one point we were told to be quiet or would have to leave. Ended up going home with a rather questionable redhead and slowed down on the consumption of vodka thereafter.
• The Anti-Vanti dinner party. Had several friends over, all of whom were single and we ate lots of tasty food, drank a little wine, and smoked some hooskow. Eventually ended up at the Phone Booth where I practiced flirting with a cute gal visiting from NYC. Later on that weekend the flirting paid off and it was the fling that got me off my arse and back into the world of dating.
• Hanging out at Cheryl's house (my best friend from grade school) making calls to the boys whom we thought were cute. I spent more time on the phone with Becky Zautke whom I was totally crushed out on at the time. Go figure. We got to stay up late and watch Johnny Carson and his Valentine's Day Special with guest star Cheryl Tiegs. Hotcha!
• Gathered at the nearest bar to my village (a 20K bike ride) called Boy Bah's. It was an Peace Corps "Friday Office Party" which meant those of us whom lived within transport distance ascended upon this village and drank until our eyeballs popped out while sharing stories of events from our respective "homes". At one point in the evening I remember going to buy a chicken at the market for dinner....it's all fuzzy after that.

Wherein tonight I am spending Valentine's Day alone but it doesn't feel so bad. Miss Becky and I decided the events of the weekend were our celebrating and we didn't have to go out of our way today to chime in with the rest of the world on Valentine's Day. I tell her I love her several times a day. She is made fully aware daily how much I appreciate her loveliness, kindness, generosity, and beauty. I can't just wait for one day out of the year to do special nice things for her. I do them all the time because I want to and it feels like the right thing to do. So Hallmark, step off and quit reminding those whom don't have a Valentine why you think they should. It's lucky I am no longer ingesting pints of vodka to forget how lonely Valentine's Day can be, however I can still remember what it feels like. Make every day Valentine's Day. It's really not that hard.