Happy Valentine's Day

Do you like Valentine's Day? I hate it. Don't get me wrong, I love flowers and those who know me know I love those stupid little conversation hearts, the original ones, not the shiny ones. I actually read them before I eat them. What I hate about Valentine's Day is all of a sudden flowers are 2 to 3 times more expensive, restaurants charge twice for food and a lot of pressure is put on people to get just the right gift or be judged a loser. That's not right. No one should be forced into giving gifts for any reason.

I remember as a kid in school we would take little white lunch bags and decorate them with doilies, red hearts and markers and then put cartoon themed Valentine cards into the bags of the kids we liked and some that we secretly liked but didn't sign our names. Then, one year it was decided that every student had to give everyone a Valentine card. A list of kids in the class was sent home so parents could supervise their kid and make sure there were enough cards to go around. It became so impersonal. That's when my hatred of Valentine's Day started. Why did I have to give the class bully a Valentine card? Or the mean girl who called me names at the bus stop?

This year I'm glad Valentine's Day in not on a week day. I won't be getting any gifts, flowers or cards which won't be reciprocated and I won't have to be judged because of it. I'm not heartless, I just like to give gifts on my own terms, not on Hallmark's.