Valentine’s Day: the one day of the year devoted to showing love and affection for your significant other. Although, it has turned into more of “let’s go on the cutest and most expensive date ever and I’ll buy you flowers, chocolate, wine, and a ridiculously sized teddy bear.” It’s wonderful… if you’re not single.
Unfortunately, I’m not in a cute relationship this Valentine’s Day, which got me thinking about how I wanted to spend the “love” holiday. I decided to spend it with my two best friends — Lara and Janelle. We’ll be spending our Valentine’s Day watching chick flicks, eating a lot of cheese, cake, and dinosaur chicken nuggets, and talking about the boys we’d like to be spending the holiday with next year.
Now I know having a valentine is nice — I’ve had years with a valentine, and I’ve had years without one. But honestly, the best way to spend the holiday is appreciating people you love in general. Yeah, it’s supposed to be for a significant other, but I feel it can be extended to showing love to anyone in your life.
It’s been a tough month for the three of us, and having a day dedicated to appreciating everything they do for me and cherishing all of our memories makes me really excited. For me, college has proven to be a place where I found the girls I want to laugh with now, for the next four years, and for the rest of time. They’re the girls I want as my bridesmaids, honorary aunts to my children, and the people I call when something major happens — whether it be good or bad.
So to all of you thinking Valentine’s Day is going to be awful because you don’t have a valentine, fear not. This can be a day about appreciating anyone in your life that you love: your parents, your siblings, your best friends, your SO, or even your pets — I will be cuddling with Lara’s puppy Puck all day. I can honestly say this is the Valentine’s Day I’m looking forward to most, because I can’t wait to spend it with the girls who keep me going everyday, especially when I’m going crazy about a boy.
So to Janelle and Lara, this is me saying how much I love you both and thank you for being the best friends a girl can ask for. Thank you for putting up with my crazy antics, my loud personality and voice, my freak outs, and my complaints that I’m always cold.
So, to my best friends, will you pretty please be my valentines this year?
All my love,
Ari