Valentine's Day

Aaahhh... Single's Awareness Day.

Can I be completely frank here??  I really hate seeing everybody's posts on Facebook all about how much they love their husbands or boyfriends or how great their significant other's are because of this or that or whatever.  Call it jealousy, call me a bitter old hag, call it what you will - I don't really care.  In my defense, though - I've always hated that, but it does seem that my hatred of such posts and holidays does seem a bit more acute lately.

I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind. The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! Yes, you are looking at one such individual...


Can I tell you that my favorite Valentine's Day was the year that my dad got a giant stuffed frog for me?  I love, love, LOVE that the best Valentine's Day I've ever had was because of my daddy.  And yes, I'm 30 and I still call my dad, Daddy.

Last year, I drove all the way up to Clearfield , to surprise my fiancee on his lunch break with a bottle of Italian Soda and some wine glasses just to celebrate the holiday.  And in return... he did (drumroll, please)... nothing.  yes, nothing... for me.

A few years ago, I broke up with a boyfriend just a few days before Valentine's Day and and a few years before that, one broke up with me on Valentine's Day.  So here's the thing... I really do believe strongly that Valentine's Day is just a superficial holiday created to help boost the economy in its tiny way.

You're just protecting yourself, with that wall you've put up... That wall of yours may keep out pain, but it may also keep out love.

That said, I do often wonder if I am, in fact a Closet Hopeless Romantic.  Heaven forbid, someone actually find out!!  right?!

This person is in love with love.  They believe in fairy tales and love.  They're not to be confused as stalkers or creepy because that's not what a hopeless romantic is.  All hopeless romantics are idealists, the sentimental dreams, the imaginative and the fanciful when you get to know them.  They often live with rose colored glasses on.  They make love look like an art form with all the romantic things they do for their special someone.


Maybe I wonder about this because I really do believe in fairy tales and love can get you through anything, because love conquers all and finding that special someone that makes you want to be better than you are and all that other sappy mumbo jumbo.

Do you want me to tell you something really subversive?  Love is everything it's cracked up to be.  That's why people are so cynical about it... It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for and the trouble is, if you don't risk everything, you risk even more.


Maybe Valentine's has gotten the best of me in the past, but I think beneath my hard candy shell, I'll still be the hopeless romantic that I keep trying to hide...

Someone who was once very important to me, years ago, told me that I was "The Jigsaw Puzzle from Hell"  I might be starting to see why...