Anti anti-Valentine's

As the inevitable Hallmark holiday draws nearer and every aisle from Kroger to K-Mart is filled with pink teddy bears and aisles full of heart-shaped candy boxes one would think I would be somehow sadder with JC on the other side of the country. I guess I should be more bummed out, but I'm not really. There's not really much to the holiday aside from delivering a Valentine and saying "Happy Valentine's Day". I have someone to say it to this year so I'm more than happy!

I didn't have anyone to spend Valentine's with for the longest time, but that never really bummed me out all that much. Holidays like Christmas and New Years - especially in recent years - were way worse to spend alone. I never hated Valentine's Day. I honestly don't really get people who rage about what an awful 'Hallmark holiday' is and how it makes single people feel miserable. I think it makes them sound bitter and very petty. Halloween and Christmas are just as commercialized as the 14th of February. My beef with Valentine's Day has more to do with the ridiculous things that stores sell than the holiday itself I just don't see the point in giving some of the things that are sold in stores. Does a fluffy pink gorilla holding a heart actually have any sentimental value? I really can't wrap my head around it. I don't think any of my silly high school students would buy half of the junk these stores sell. I suppose there must be demand for all the silly stuff or it wouldn't be in the stores, but man...I'm left scratching my head. If I got some of that stuff I don't think I could even feign excitement.

Back to my anti-anti-Valentine's rant. I don't love the holiday or anything, but I really don't think there's anything wrong with setting aside a special day (even if you do it every day) just to tell people you love them. Like I said, up until very recently I spent most of my Valentine's alone. It sounds lame, but I would just send Valentine's to my friends and family. In fact, my favorite Valentine's memory (aside from 10 minutes ago when I just opened JC's card) was my senior year of high school. I was in the goofiest ten-person AP bio class ever with a teacher who was the nicest/most laidback/clueless man ever. Quite spontaneously, we decided as a class the day before to have a Valentine's party. People brought in cupcakes, cookies and we exchanged those awesome Valentines you used to get in grade school. None of us were best friends, but we had a blast writing each other cards. Most said silly things like "you're the best at crossword puzzles!" or "thanks for dissecting the fetal pig for me!", but they all made us smile. I really think I might even still have one of the cards in between the pages of one of my yearbooks! Man, that was a great day. Good times...crazy to think it was almost a decade ago.

Anyway, when JC asked what I wanted for the big day this year, I made the decision that - since it was our first one together - we should set a precedent of 'low-keying it'. Then in the future there's no expectation for anything big. I do love sending care packages though so I did send him a housewarming box with a couple little things in it and he (unbeknownst to me) did the same. Kind of crazy that without telling each other we both did the same thing. His box was awesome and contained all kinds of deliciousness from Trader Joe's, which is a store Lynchburg will never see in a million years, but is on pretty much every street corner where he is. Oh, and reason 10,512 I love him? He included cat treats in the package for my two crazy cats. Fat little Journey gobbled them up, but crazy Hobbes could care less about the treats. He was way more excited about the box! See if you can find Hobbes in this picture. (Sorry about the poor photo quality and bad lighting. If I turned on the flash he had 'demon eyes' that the red eye couldn't fix.)

He seriously slept and played in that box for 2 hours. I wish I could be amused by a box for an hour! After the shortest work week ever (2 days and only 25 minute class periods), I am headed out tonight to go see a coworker and friend of mine play a show at a local restaurant. He is one of the first friends I made at my school and I love hanging out with him. He is a huge college football fan and loves to root on the Wahoos, which is a rarity here in Tech country! We were even thinking about driving up to Charlottesville this fall to go to a game together, but that fell through. The funny think about Mike being one of my best pals? He's 42, married and has 2 kids. It never even occurs to me that he's close to two decades older than me, which is pretty crazy to think about. He likes to get my input for what 'new' songs from the last 5 years he should include in his set. I told him he doesn't need any help, he already has a great set so I'm off to go hear him play some Keith Urban, Sister Hazel and Billy Joel (he plays a mean harmonica!)

I leave you with a question about Valentine's. Are you an anti-Valentine's day person, do you love it or are you just kind of 'meh' about it like I am (but completely confused by the ridiculous candy and toys!)