Pre-empting the senseless bitching that’s going to come in the next few weeks, I thought I’d muse on how special the Fourteenth of February is. I like V-Day. I love celebrating it. I don’t care if businesses commercialize it. I say good for retailers and store-owners. They get to sell; they get to move our economy. For coupled folks, it gives them another* special day to celebrate their zest for one another. For the single people, it gives them a chance to find someone. Heather would not have found me if she didn’t look at the Pen-pal personals on one V-Day night, 1999. If I were in the party business, I’d make a special singles only event that day. There is no reason to feel like a loser this day. And, if romantic love’s not your thing, then treat it as a day you can appreciate your friends. I love seeing the lines of people forming at chocolatiers and flower stores. It means they’re going to treat their special person. And, just for a moment, we are all in a cadence together: A ritual! And I don’t only love people buying things for others. I also love it when people get creative about their offerings, like when my wife made me a heart-shaped raspberry cheese-cake on V-Day 2004. You don’t need to get the same dozen red roses, teddy bears and chocolates…though my wife would never say no to chocolates…and I don’t know about teddy bears, but they are cute for the innocent-minded and if that makes them happy, so be it! To the sordid ones who want to get rid of this holiday, I say, how would this help our society? Should we also get rid of other holidays, like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve…? Holidays are what you make of them. If commercialization is your problem, then don’t shop and start making something, like a poem, a song, a game, a cake, or hug the person you’ve always wanted and dress kinky. If you feel societal pressure, you’re feeling in the wrong direction! If you’re pre-occupied with historical interpretations of the holiday, then make up your own happy story (or tragic, if you prefer), but don’t go messing it up for all of us who want to have a good time!

* I say “another” because you should try to celebrate your loved one at least every other day, for why else call them “loved” ones.