Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day is almost upon us.

Normally, I do not pay much attention to this holiday. My reaction year to year shifts from indifference to mild annoyance to involuntary eyebrow twitching-level irritation at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. It's advertised as a pompous celebration of romantic love for heterosexual couples, seeking to express their undying love by buying heart shaped chocolates, overpriced dinners, and tacky jewelry. Even more exasperating than the propaganda to celebrate this holiday is the backlash from people who lament the existence of said propaganda. When I had Facebook, most status updates this time of the year were somewhere around the lines of "Fuck valentines day, I dun need no man," followed by a lyric from a Destiny's Child song circa 2001. Or, they were something like "Oh, haha, I totally forgot it was Valentines Day, that's why I'm totally letting my 534 friends know that my life is so completely awesome that I totally forgot the holiday that I've been thinking about since I walked into CVS in early January when I had to buy emergency eyeliner and saw a bunch of pink hearts and shit and went home and cried about Jose cheating on me with that girl with tacky blonde highlights." Or, even better: "OMG i have the bestest boyfriend evaaaaaa xoxoxo love you Jeremy DaOnePlaya Rodriguez 01.07.09 <333333."

All these reactions make me sick. 

Valentine's Day is such a strange phenomena in the US. We love to hate it. We hate to love it. Either way, there's a whole lot of wailing that goes down the days leading towards it. When I lived in the Dominican Republic, Valentine's Day was (and still is, I suppose) known as "El Dia del Amor y Amistad." Translated simply, it means the day of love and friendship. In school, we were encouraged to regard it as a day to appreciate the people in our lives and say "Thanks for being awesome, have a cookie." It was pretty nice.

So, this Valentine's Day, I'm not going to take to the internet and lament about sappy couples showing off their love in spite of my crippling singledom. I'm not going to deny it would be nice to have a oh so special someone to remind me how oh so special I am to them too. Instead, I'm celebrating by having a tacky ass dinner with a couple of pretty cool friends. Knowing that I have people in my life that are willing to tolerate (and inspire) my bizarre antics, lack of a decent attention span, my loud booming shrill laugh, and willingness to finish everybody's leftovers comforts me enough, for the most part. 

Do not fret my fellow single (or miserably taken) people! Our day will come.