Santa has headed north, we’ve rung in the new year and no doubt left our resolutions at the curb with last weeks garbage. We’ve eaten ourselves into oblivion, and found a great way to re-purpose that shiny new treadmill with the tags still on it into a clothes rack. What we really need now is something to pick our spirits up. Clearly we require another holiday.
As I head to my local dollar boutique, I am quickly reminded by the aisles of chocolate hearts and fat little pink cherubs, that holiday happiness is just around the corner. Well, for those of us lucky enough to have someone special in our lives anyways; the rest of you can drown your sorrows in cheap booze, a combination plate #2, and if you’re lucky…a night of regret! That devil’s name is St. Valentine’s Day.
My question is why? Does anyone even know why we celebrate St. Valentine? Do we really need a day hard coded into the calendar to tell us when to tell our partner we love them or that they are special to us? How exciting and spontaneous! Nothing portrays the love I have for my wife, than a commercial holiday where I am expected to buy overpriced flowers and wax-laden chocolate. This must truly warm the cockles of her heart.
I think it is time to come to the realization that St. Valentine’s Day is nothing more than a commercially made holiday, whose existence is purely based on extracting more money out of our already empty wallets. Is Big Brother going to bust down my door to arrest me, because I refuse to partake in a holiday conjured up in the boardrooms of the greeting card and confectionery industry? I’ll take my chances.
From time to time, I like to bring my wife some flowers or I’ll take her out to dinner or go out of my way to do something unexpected for her. I do these things to let her know that she is special to me, not because a date on the calendar tells me to. This year, the boycott of St. Valentine’s Day begins. I will not fall into the trap that has been set. I will however be buying clearance chocolate on February 15, but for my own enjoyment. This year I will not be competing for reservations or spend hours trying to find the “perfect card” that will only end up in the trash a week later. This year, Valentine’s Day will just be the day between the 13th and 15th. That, and it will also be Leg Day.
For those of you with the romantic prowess of a cat struggling to hack up a hairball, use the upcoming Valentine’s Day as a reminder. Grab a pen or pencil, cover your eyes and blindly circle a random date on the calendar between now and the day before Valentine’s Day. This is the day which you will do something nice for the one who makes your bathing suit parts tingle, but just leave the Valentine’s Day its-been-done-to death nonsense where it is. Keep it simple; make them a card, cook them a romantic dinner, pick up your breadcrumb trail of dirty underwear or even offer to watch some terrible girlie movie. In the end, it’s all bankable credits and it pays double when you do it on your own, for no reason other than you love her / him and want them to know it.Valentine’s Day should actually cost you credits.
Now, get out there and show your significant other you love them… it’s ice fishing season and you need yourself an extended weekend trip with the guys!
A Kilted Scott 