I have to let off a quick rant. It’s Valentine’s Day today. You know, Day of Lurrrrv and Romance and Red Hearts and Pink Flowers. And invariably, there’s going to be a few Bah Humbugs (okay, wrong season – maybe curmudgeons, then?) who call for a boycott of the holiday, and complain about how all this talk of love and romance only makes those of us who don’t have anyone who brings them roses and chocolates feel worse about that fact. So therefore, they say, we should not celebrate it at all. Ban this foolishness! Down with red-foil-wrapped chocolates and cinnamon hearts!
“Bah!” I say to them, “Humbug!” (that does have a nice ring to it, seasonal or not). Yes, all right, I agree that the commercialism of Valentine’s Day is flat-out ridiculous, and that spending money and making empty gestures is not what love is about. (In fact, a few years ago I wrote a blog post about it.) And of course I feel for those for whom the day, like many other holidays, brings up painful memories of lost loved ones, but that’s not what I’m talking about here. The pain of grief is a whole other topic.
The thing is this: just because you don’t have that one romantic partner in your life who neatly conforms to all of society’s extremely limited ideas of what love consists of it doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate a Day of Love, and/or let others celebrate it. Just because I’m not a grandmother doesn’t mean I can’t participate in my friend’s joy at her grandson’s birthday. Being European doesn’t mean I can’t celebrate Chinese New Year’s or enjoy watching the Asian community celebrating it. Not having a romantic-gestures-delivering partner doesn’t mean I can’t embrace Valentine’s Day.
Our world is bleak enough as it is—let’s celebrate all we can. And let’s especially celebrate love in all its manifestations. I just learned the terms “Galentine’s” and “Palentine’s”, celebrating your gal friends and pals—what a great concept. Friends, family, parents, children, uncles, aunts, cousins, second-cousins-by-marriage-once-removed, and yes, husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, lovers—let’s enjoy each other and the relationships we have. Let’s revel in the joy of love and romance and mushy sentiment, because, let’s face it, it makes us feel good, and it literally makes life happen. How great is that?
So bring on the flowers and chocolates (though perhaps not the promises you don’t intend to keep, but the gift of a giant library full of books would always be welcome). Let’s put a counterpoint of Love and Celebration out into the darkness.
Life, the Universe, and the Day of Love. Happy Valentine’s Day!
I used to be one of those curmudgeonly “bah humbug” sorts about Valentine’s Day, and I’m SO GLAD that I got over that. I made lasagna for supper last night just because one of my kids asked for it as her favorite meal! Carl and I bought each other (and the kids) chocolates! I didn’t go over-the-top with anything, but even just doing special little things that you wouldn’t normally do on an ordinary day (I do NOT usually make lasagna on a random Tuesday evening) go a long way toward saying, “hey, I love you, and I want to make your February a little brighter.”
Exactly! We had lasagne too – and I didn’t even make it, but got frozen ones! Definitely not something I’d do on an ordinary Tuesday. There is something Valentine-ish about lasagne for some reason. Maybe it’s the red of the tomato sauce?