Last night as I sat at the airport reading about the horrific botched attempt at the first electrical execution, my mind wandered to another form of cruel and unusual punishment: relationships.
People have some pretty strong views about Valentine's Day. If it isn't complaining about how this day has been hijacked by Hallmark and Hershey's, it's berating Valentine's Day as just another day where couples can gloat over how wonderful life is as a unit. I admit I have often been a part of the faction giving voice to how lame Valentine's Day is, but the truth is I don't hate it as much as I've claimed.
Growing up, Valentine's Day was never about a boy. Maybe it's because I wasn't in school, exchanging valentines in class and worrying about who I would give a Carebear or Ninja Turtles card to. I never even had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day until I was twenty. When I was young, the days before Valentine's Day were spent in the laundry room with paper doilies, feathers, stickers, colored markers, glitter, paper, and glue - making valentines for my family and relatives - or helping my mom bake heart-shaped cookies. That morning or the night before, we'd sneak down and place our valentines at each family member's place at the table - to be discovered at breakfast.
Romantic love, with a lower-case r, is fine, but it's just one of the facets (and in my opinion one of the most superficial aspects) of what Valentine's Day means to me. What about the love of family? The love of friends? Both are sadly ignored by the public perception of the holiday. Saint Valentine's name is derived from the Latin valens, worthy. Are friends and family less worthy of a day of celebration than a significant other?
To me, this is the truest love. The brother who can hardly wait for me to get home so he can show me the song he recorded on his new keyboard, holding the newborn cousin with a head as small and delicate as a peach, the dog who curls up next to me on the couch. Valentine's Day is about the fact that I have the ability to give love, to feel love.
I won't get flowers this Valentine's Day, but I have so innumerably much more.
