Valentines Smalentines...

Well I was going to share with you a list of MTV's Top Ten Valentines Make-Out Songs with you guys and go and try to enjoy this miserable day but to be honest, the list was awful so I am going to speak my mind of this terrible day - and it probably won't be pretty.

I'm not saying I hate love and romance and all that jazz - I just hate the idea of people cashing in on it. Really, where did Valentine's Day start anyway? What is the reason for shelling out a small fortune or your first born to buy your lover a gift? Why do big companies feel the need to send me a Valentine's Day Sale e-mail starting right after New Years? Me - the girl who has been single for almost 4 years now. The girl who hasn't been on a date in YEARS.

First off let me recap my Valentines Days for you. I used to love getting the Valentine's Day cards in elementary school. Popples, Care Bears, He-Man, I loved them all! It was so exciting to get Valentines from your little friends. Fast forward to seventh grade - my first boyfriend ever and I was so excited for Valentine's Day that year. What would he get me, I bet you're all on the edge of your seat just waiting to find out, well don't be because I got nothing. My friends had boyfriends too and they all got something, but I didn't and I was devastated. My little grade seven life was over, well until I had a great idea! I picked out a little stuffed dog from my stuffed animal collection (grade 7 - hello!) and pretended that is what he got for me. So that was my first Valentine's Day FAIL. Most definitely was not the last either.

Shortly after that, we moved to a new city. Starting grade 8 with all new friends was tough. Valentine's all of a sudden became a popularity contest. It wasn't as cute anymore where everybody got a card for everyone in the class, all of a sudden it was you get cards from those who care - which in Grade 8, starting a new school, was very few people. High school was even worse, all of a sudden it wasn't cool to give out Valentine's cards anymore, instead you now had to pay a dollar to send your friends a chocogram which was a little card and a chocolate sucker. So if you could imagine how many cards I didn't get in grade 8 when they were cheap little pieces of paper - to think that someone would spend $1 to send me a Valentine's chocogram was ridiculous. I think I got one out of pity one year from my best friend.

I think that is when I really started to hate Valentine's Day - and it all just went downhill from there. When R and I were dating, we never celebrated Valentine's Day and I loved it. We both felt the same way. I think the most romantic thing we did was order a pizza. We didn't have much money, and to both feel the same way about such a commercial holiday was just - comfortable. After he died, it just got worse because now I was alone and I had people pitying me, inviting me on their Valentine's dates etc. Nobody understood why I hated this holiday and they all thought it was because I was bitter and alone - which is not true at all. So here I am, alone again on Valentine's Day, celebrating only for Mason. I think our plans for today will be to grocery shop and maybe we'll order a pizza...you know, for tradition.

However, I don't want this to be a pity post, I don't want to bring down your day so to try and understand exactly what we are celebrating here, I am going to do a little Valentine's Day research.

Who is St. Valentine?

St. Valentine was a priest who lived in Rome during the third century. At that time it was discovered that young men who were single were much better soldiers than those who were married (what with all the nagging sister wives at home etc.) so he abolished marriage. Well St. Valentine was a strong believer in marriage so he secretly married lovers. Emperor Claudius II learned of this and sent St. Valentine off to jail.

Romantic that he was, St. Valentine fell in love with a young girl, who was believed to be the jailor's daughter and decided to write her a letter, signing it off with "From your valentine". The next day he was beheaded, on February 14, 269. We celebrate Valentine as a symbol of love and celebrate his romantic life.

Some Valentine's Day Facts:

(from http://www.history.com/ - my new official favourite web site for facts)