Valentine’s Day gets a bad reputation. And I’m not oblivious as to the reasons why– it gets exhausting seeing ad after ad of couples walking into a rose-colored sunset with unicorns preceding them. Not only does it seem unrealistic, but almost sickening. You think, “even if I was in a relationship, that’s not what I would want! Unicorns and mass-produced chocolate be damned!” But I’m not advocating for a love of Valentine’s Day as we know it– I’m advocating for a new kind of Valentine’s Day.
I’m not sure exactly when I started to take serious note of Valentine’s Day. Maybe as an act of optimistic rebellion, but I want to say somewhere around 5th grade. I remember my dad got me the biggest, pinkest unicorn stuffed animal that I had ever seen in my life, and it just made me so absolutely happy. I wanted to share that same love to everyone, and after that I began to realize how special the day was. In middle school, I was the person who brought all the valentines, made all the petit fours, and celebrated big. However, eighth grade was when Valentine’s Day turned into my favorite holiday. My best friend texted me that day asking me if I had plans that night, and (per usual eighth grade me) I was eating dinner with her parents and watching a movie at home, probably playing with my dogs all night. Since Valentine’s Day was a Friday night that year, she asked me if I wanted to go see a movie. My dad dropped me off at the movie theater, and as I was waiting in line to buy my ticket, she came behind me, gave me the biggest hug, and said that she had a surprise night planned (my best friend, even in eighth grade, was pretty cool.) She took me out of the movie theater to her mom’s car, and we drove back to her house. Then we had a night of Valentine’s Day celebration– we made pizzas, we watched all the best movies, we wrote each other letters about how much we loved being the other’s best friend. It was so much fun!
Since then, I have wanted to make Valentine’s Day as spontaneous, sweet, and fun as that night. I couldn’t believe that my best friend had gone out of her way to surprise me, and it made life feel extra fun. That’s what Valentine’s Day is– surprise, fun, love. It’s the chance to tell someone you’ve been in love with them for your whole life or for the past week, it’s a day to give all of your best friend’s tulips, it’s a day to wear all pink, a day to kiss someone you’ve always wanted to kiss and see what happens. Valentine’s Day is a celebration of living fully in the moment, and all of a sudden, nothing becomes too spontaneous. It’s how I want to live every day, and I have no shame when I say proudly– Valentine’s Day is my favorite holiday!