Happy Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day. VD. The all too obvious parallel with the other disaster linked to love has drawn itself and I feel trite pointing it out. It’s actually never been a bad day for me so I guess I shouldn’t be hard on it. I just don’t like pushing consumerism to prove emotion. Buy jewelry to show her you care. Buy pink fuzzy stuffed things. Buy things she can burn when you break up with her.

Even as I’m typing it sounds harsh. But think about it: What else are the love trinkets for? If the happy couple is going to stay together forever then maybe it’s good filling for the hope chest, but hope chests are out of style and usually the couple doesn’t stay together anyway and it becomes something to practice catharsis on. She pawns the jewelry. She beats up the stuffed animal. She ignites the card in a ritualistic cleansing exercise. I’m telling you man… Valentine’s day is a set up.

I think flowers and dinner and spa days make sense though. They have a fair chance of being outlasted so long as you don’t dry the flowers.

Now Thanksgiving… that’s a good holiday. Cards and gifts aren’t expected. Well wishing is expected. As long as you tell everyone “Happy Thanksgiving” and find yourself in the presence of people who care about you at some point during the day you’ve succeeded. If you don’t ruin the turkey you get bonus points.

Thanksgiving isn’t there to tell you that you’re not really living life to the fullest without the enabler to your co-dependency. Thanksgiving wants you to relax. For one day forget about your waistline and your deadlines and just exist. Watch a movie. Eat some pie. Stretch out and connect with people who just want to know how your life is going. And if you do have a love interest then end the night with a bang out, but no pressure.

St. Patrick’s day would be at the top of my list too if the working world would recognize it. Not that the working world recognizes Valentine’s day. It loses utility when you have to put in hours at the office before you can celebrate. To come full circle I guess this Valentine’s day is better than most because it landed on a Saturday. If you’re single, you don’t have to feel horrible because you can always go out and guzzle beer until you meet an interesting person, or at least a fellow single warm body. It beats the ones that land on a tuesday and leave a significant portion of the American population curled up on their couch with their cats watching reruns and updating their profiles at match.com.

Now, before someone else calls me out on hypocrisy, I’ll be the first to admit that we bought a giant pink fuzzy stuffed unicorn and a gay singing card for my webmaster. And I bought one of those cute little black and white cards with the kids giving each other roses for another strapping young man. And a box of chocolates, knowing full well that he won’t eat them and I’ll get stuck with them. I also wished everyone on twitter, myspace, facebook, and ClubKayden.com a Happy Valentines day. And everyone on MikeSouth.com. Happy Valentine’s Day.