I feel love in the air...

Today is Valentine's Day. Now it would be really cliche of me to just say what a bogus holiday because it's a corporate-made holiday to sell flowers and what not, but I'm going to anyway.

I think what soured me and a lot of people on Valentine's Day is that growing up, when it was time for people to date, I was always left out. I don't think I had a valid excuse to celebrate Valentine's Day until I was in college and even then, I would forget half of the time. One time, my Mom called me up and asked me if I had gotten my girlfriend, who was still in high school (one year younger than me) a Valentine's Day present. I had not because I lacked the one thing you need in this situation, money. Also, I just hadn't thought about it because I hadn't celebrated it in so long.

In grade school, it was super easy. Everybody got Valentines for everyone else. Boys gave to boys and girls. Girls gave to girls and boys. No one got left out. It was easy. It was fun. Kind of creepy now that I think about it, but hey it was an excuse to get candy.

So "I" got a gift for my then girlfriend when I was a freshman in college. Months later, I'm in my girlfriend's room and she says, "Hey, look at the plant you got me. It's really growing."

"What plant?" I asked stupidly. I had long forgotten about it.

"The plant you sent to me for Valentine's Day."

"Oh! THAT plant!" I said excitedly. "I ordered it over the phone, so I didn't really get to see it." So I recovered by digging myself a little hole. She didn't notice.

This is kind of like when I celebrated Mother's Day for my wife after my daughter was born. She kind of asked me what I was going to buy for mother's day. I was planning on buying a card, but it didn't dawn on me that I was supposed to buy a card for her until a day later when a Eureka moment hit me.

Back to Valentine's Day. Because neither my wife and I had celebrated it much in college, we just haven't made a big deal about it. I don't think a lot people do, either.

Not according to the TV commercials. They make it look like you'll be in the dog house if you don't give your honey something on Valentine's Day. Personally, I think giving something on a day other than Valentine's Day would hold more weight. It's unexpected.

I think another reason Valentine's Day doesn't hold much weight with people like me is because it's a holiday that excludes people. Christmas is really for most everyone because even non-Christians celebrate it. Thanksgiving is a time when you give thanks with everyone. Independence Day is a country-wide celebrate. Mostly non-Irish people drink green beer and make asses of themselves on St. Patrick's Day. Hell, even Earth Day involves you if you give a crap about the Earth.

Not Valentine's Day. It's the one holiday where you feel like a loser if you don't have someone to love. And it's a target kind of love. You can't just love your Mom or you cat, you must love someone romantically or forever be shunned. You can't show up at a school yard and hand out Valentines to kids because you love children. No one can get away with that, unless you're Michael Jackson (cheap joke).

I say, we need to change the holiday to include all love. You love your family? Take them out to dinner. Give your Mom some flowers. It shouldn't have to be a holiday that sucks for the single people...