V-Day - exposee of a hopeless love-nik

I admit it, I’m one of those people… you know, the one that really believes in taking one day out of the year to tell people you care about them. Don’t get me wrong, I understand that this day was created to sell greeting cards, and that it is one of the biggest retail days of the year- topped only by Christmas/winter holidays! In 2008, US citizens spent close to $17 BILLION– that’s a lot of chocolate, flowers, lingerie and restaurant meals - an average of $120 per person. Looks like spending is set to drop 20% in 2009 – down to an average of $102 per person.

And even though I know this intellectually, I have always been a big fan of Valentine’s Day. Ever since I was a little kid, my family celebrated V-day in a big way – cocktail parties, baking cookies, and secret hiding places for presents. I loved combing through the boxes of valentines at Target when I was a kid – should I give my classmates Scooby Doo, or maybe Flinstones, but never Holly Hobby… too girly! Fast forward to my junior high years, I remember getting a valentine slipped in my locker from a secret admirer – never found out who that was, but I’m sure it occupied a number of notes I passed to my friends during social studies.

Even as an adult – it’s one of my favorite holidays… but that may be because I’ve always had a “captive valentine” – that’s right, I’ve never been single on V-day – In fact, never been truly single since I was 16 (a topic for another day)! Maybe always having the up-side of the day guaranteed has colored my experience, or maybe I’m just a hippie in corporate clothes, but I really do believe that Love can heal most wounds, cure most ills, and make the world a better place. In fact, I would celebrate the concept of Valentine’s day over just about any other holiday – Winter Solstice is my favorite, but this comes right behind. All the others are throwbacks to historical events – most outdated and devoid of the original spirit of the day.

So, I celebrate the concept of love on February 14th – not just the romantic, hope I get laid kind of love, but the love that I feel for my children, my friends, and the community. So, to anyone who may read this – Happy Valentine’s day – will you be mine?