anagramofbrat | Writer's Block: Hit the road, Cupid

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Once upon a time I would have said yes. But I find that these days I don't really mind it and am more annoyed by OMG IT WAS TOTALLY INVENTED BY HALLMARK. Really? If you believe that you probably also believe that Coke and/or Macy's invented Santa and that Hannukah was hyped up from a minor feast into a major thing so that Jewish kids could have a "Christmas." This is totally my judgey face. Sure it's over-hyped and commercialized (so is Christmas), but under the diamond ads, florists losing their shit and heart shaped boxes of chocolate what on earth is wrong with dedicating one day to love, and how can people object to that?

I realize my entire view is colored by the fact that Valentine's Day has never really been a super-romantic holiday for me. Sure, I took valentines to school (and I made them for everyone long before school ordered you to), but for me, Valentine's day was a day that Dad would often take off from work so he could come home and spend the evening with Mom and I and whomever of the siblings were around, since usually he was working 4-12am and I didn't see him much during the week. Sure, there was the ridiculous flower arrangement on the dining room table for Mom that she would audibly complain about but secretly loved, and sometimes a trip to the Godiva store for me after school (which was awesome because I got to pick out my own truffles... I'm extremely picky about them), and funny oversized cards for everyone (Dad always had a knack for picking out cards). But it sort of was beside the point. It was more... I don't know. Dad's ways of showing affection came in odd fits and starts and he only loosened up as he got older, which makes a bit of generational sense. But Valentine's Day was always the holiday when he was always no holds barred all about being with and spoiling his wife and kids. I'll honestly never forget my amusement/horror/squish when I went to the mailbox my first year of college to find Dad had sent up a box of chocolate big enough that my entire floor at Lamont had to come help me eat it. It's gotten less so since Mom died and all of us are gone, which I kinda miss. But I plan on calling him and the sibs today to wish them all a happy VD day per usual. Well, I won't wish Dad one. :) He'll get a regular Valentine's day greeting.

Also Valentine's day was really really fun at school too. There was usually some kind of hearts and cookies festival being thrown every year for the smaller kids and the high school had the Valentine's Day Assembly, which were the teachers in each department putting on skits, and it always culminated in the Media Lab's big production of the year which was us camera and computer nerds running around interviewing kids and staff about love and friendship and Valentine's day and some of the teachers answers to things were just off the frakking wall. It being UNIS it was interesting getting a bit of a not-US perspective on the whole thing, which is probably why I came away with the idea that it's more about all kinds of love rather than just the romantic type.

I guess with that sort of upbringing, it's very hard for me to be cynical about it. Sure, I audibly disdain it as much as the next devotee of the First Church of Cynical Hipster, but really? Life is hard enough as it is, and I'm totally about a day to celebrate love, be it romantic, filial or even just friendly. So no, I wouldn't get rid of it. I'd like it a little less sponsored by DeBeers and Zales maybe (not gonna happen), but the holiday itself can stay.

No,

cell23 and I aren't planning anything too special other than him cooking dinner and us playing with the cat. After the craziness of last week and the past weekend, that is just about my speed. :)