Valentine's Backlash

Have you noticed an absolute backlash against Valentine's Day over the past few years? People all of a sudden hate this day. Single people hate it because they don't have a Valentine and are constantly reminded of this during the weeks leading up to the biggest date night of the year. Every commercial on the tv or radio is about girls getting cars and pajamas and rings and chocolates from her man. Single women are pissed because they know they're not getting a car or a ring. Single men are pissed because they don't get to buy a car or a ring or even chocolate for a girl, which of course means they won't be having sex tonight.


People lucky (or unlucky depending on your point of view) enough to have a significant other hate the holiday because there's pressure on them too. Pressure to find the right car or ring. Pressure to perform in the bedroom. Pressure to look pretty and smile and say a bunch of mushy ooey gooey things you said when you first met only because you REALLY wanted to see the other person naked.

So everyone bitches and grouses about how this was a holiday co-invented by Hallmark and Zales while forgetting what the holiday is really about. It's about spending time in the company of someone you love and remembering why you love them in the first place. If you're currently without a "lover," today's a great day to either tell someone you'd like to get the chance to love them, or go get sloppy drunk with some single friends and have a good time.

I'm sure St. Valentine would be happy to know that people are cursing his name and saying his holiday is a sham. Have some respect for the dead people!

I thought I'd include a few personal Valentine's Day stories to end this blog.

Rachel and I are spending Valentine's Day this year by going to an OSU basketball game with Jonah after work. My grandparents will be there and they would like to see Jonah one more time before we fly to Wisconsin to get him baptized on Sunday. Then we'll probably come home, make some dinner and watch a few episodes of Friends in bed. The end. Nothing fancy, no overblown gifts to try and "out-love" one another. We'll probably go out to dinner tomorrow night in Portland since we're going that way to get on a plane Saturday anyways. And of course, I'll tell her I love her just as I do every other day.

My worst Valentine's Day ever was the year in college when I got a call from the house mom of the Chi Omega sorority. She told me she was trying to organize an event for the single girls of the house, knew I was friends with some of them, and wondered if I'd be interested in going out to dinner with some of them. I thought it sounded like a better idea than sitting online and chatting with some bitter girl in Florida who was home alone so I said I was in. So I show up at the restaurant to find 16 single sorority girls and zero guys. So we sit down to eat and I see all these couples giving me sideways glances. All of a sudden, my friend Sue just starts cracking up. She leans across the table and says "that couple behind you has been staring at you the whole time we've been here. The guy just told his girlfriend that "you have to be gay."

Ok, maybe I can see why some people wouldn't like Valentine's Day so much.