Last night as I was packing up my daughter’s Valentine supplies for the party at daycare today I started reminiscing about how my feelings about this holiday have changed over the years. Now, helping my daughter look through the Valentines she received at school while we make homemade pizza together for Daddy is the best way I can imagine spending the holiday.
Some of my most fun Valentine’s Day memories are from college when my other single gal pals and I would go out to dinner together and make inappropriate jokes about the sickening day of love. Somehow boycotting the holiday turned out to be more fun than celebrating it would have been.
One of my most annoying Valentine’s Day memories was when I lost a contact lens in the sink at school during eighth grade. I was so debilitatingly blind without them that I had to have the janitor take apart the pipe to obtain the lens. This is a disgusting story that I have never even shared with my optometrist (irony, anyone?) husband. I’m sure he will be horrified when he reads this.
My dear grandmother has sent me flowers to school or my office for as long as I can remember. She even carried on that tradition with my daughter this year, sending flowers to her daycare center. This is a reminder that Valentine’s Day can be about celebrating all kinds of love, not just the romantic kind.
Now, my dear hubby always comes through with flowers and candy, and I try to guy-up the holiday a little for him with gifts like beef jerky and brewery gift certificates.
However you choose to celebrate or boycott Valentine’s Day this year, I hope you have a good one. The world can use a little more love.
A HOUSE WITH CHARACTER 