Valentine's Day Confession

With the upcoming holiday growing ever so near, I feel like I need to recap my Valentine's Day history to fully explain why it is that I don't fully support this holiday. I am not a cynic, but I am also not going to give into consumerism. (Maybe on Christmas, but not in the middle of February!) However, the real reason to dislike V-day is the pressure it places on us to make the day go well, when really it most likely won't. Here are a few examples:

Valentine's Day 1987- Kindergarten exchange day- we all had boxes in the floor in a circle. As we were walking around the circle to deliver the valentines, clumsy me trips over a box of one student (I think I was pushed, actually), and sprains an ankle.

Valentine's Day 1992- 5th Grade and my teacher let my boyfriend at the time sit next to me for the exchange. We exchanged extra special valentines that year, king-sized candy bars (and small ones for everyone else). I realize that Valentine's Day could make me fat.

Valentine's Day 1996- My lovely high school boyfriend at the time gave me heart-shaped cubic zirconia earrings in a hand-made plastic and yarn heart box. Shortly afterwards we broke up. Hence forth, I hated heart-shaped jewelry.

Valentine's Day 1997- My new high school boyfriend orders a limo to take us to an Italian restaurant, invites a buddy and his girlfriend along for the ride, and then takes me to Titanic (which we had already seen)and I spend the evening in tears leading to convulsions. Upon dropping us off at home after the movie, the limo gets stuck in the ditch at the bottom of the driveway. Epic fail.

Valentine's Day The College Years- Numerous "single's awareness day" celebrations. One nice trip to the mountains, which was promptly followed by another breakup.

Valentine's Day 2007- I bought Kyle a 6 pack of Guiness and made a trail of Hershey kisses through the house to his office, where I left a Valentine that consisted of a picture of Final Fantasy. I told him to enjoy the evening without me and to have a night doing the things he really enjoyed, beer and video games. We still have the Hershey kisses in the freezer.

Other than those memorable years, Valentine's Day has been largely forgettable.

A Non-Valentine's Weekend Celebration- Westin Kierland May 2011

P.S. If you are one of those former boyfriends, sorry! And if you are Kyle, no pressure, really. Let's celebrate when the roses are cheaper, the restaurants emptier, and the love less commercialized.