Retreading the Same Ground, Three Years in a Row

I’ve used the same post the past 2 years on Valentine’s Day, and this year is no different. This year, I have a girlfriend over V-Day, which is somewhat new for me, but my thoughts are still the same. And, no, we don’t have any big plans, we’re just hanging out. She doesn’t necessarily agree whole heartedly with what I say about today, but she seems to understand where I’m coming from.

Thanks for understanding Liz!

And, in honor of Valentine’s Day, here it is, my annual positive V-Day blog.
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2005 post:
I wrote this last year after Valentine’s day, but decided this year I would repost it before hand. I’ve talked with a couple of people about Valentine’s Day, and I’ve come up with the fact that a) if someone needs to be shown that they are loved on one day a year by a boyfriend/girlfriend, what do the expect the rest of the year; and b) what about your friends that you love? Wasn’t St. Valentine the patron saint of love? Is that just romantic love, or any kind of love. Interesting historical note… for those of you who accuse Valentine’s day of being a strictly hallmark holiday, there is evidence of it going as far back as Roman times, and Chaucer mentions it in his Parliament of Foules. That’s pretty old. As for Mr. St. Valentine himself… There were actually 3 of them, and at least two of them were martyred for, well, love. One was killed because he was performing Christian marriages, and another was killed because he performed marriages of women to young single men in the Roman empire when it was illegal for men under the age of 30 to marry (the emperor thought they would make better warriors if they were single).

Oh, and before you ask me, no I don’t have any plans for Valentine’s Day. I just decided I don’t want to be cynical or anything about it.

So, from February 15th, 2004, a blast from the past:

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2004 post
So, here’s the thing. I’ve decided I like Valentine’s Day. I don’t care what any of you say, I think its a perfectly good holiday. The problem is, people have come to have these huge expectations about it, and that’s not cool.

There’s all these people who don’t even choose to recognize Valentine’s Day, which kind of makes it awkward when you say “Happy Valentine’s Day” and they’re like, “I don’t believe in Valentine’s Day.” What the hell do you say to that?!

Or, there’s those with the huge expectations. They had some boyfriend (or girlfriend) once who showed them the greatest Valentine’s Day ever, and now they think every Valentine’s Day should be that great.

Here’s what I think. I like Valentine’s Day. Its a good day to tell your friends you love them. Its a good day to say “Hey, I like you, and as a token of that like, I will give you a piece of chocolate.” I think we could start a Valentine’s Day revolution. Just outlaw those super extravagant Valentine’s Day plans that make people not in a relationship feel like crap, and tell your friends (and your girlfriend or boyfriend) that you love them. Maybe go out to dinner, but you don’t need to do anything crazy. Seriously, to me, I want a girl who doesn’t need things like a nice dinner to know I love her. And I never want to be in a relationship where that’s what it takes a girl to tell me she loves me. Same with my friends, I don’t need THINGS to say, “hey, you’re a good guy, I like you.” All I need are words.

So there you have it. Next February, make Valentine’s day a little something different.