And now, the requisite Valentine’s post February 14, 2005
Posted by charmingbutsingle in Uncategorized.trackback
This year was good. Typically, I’m single on Valentine’s Day and I fall into one of two single girl V-Day patterns.
- Drunken anger at the world and all men, regardless of who they are.
- Pitiful, “I am single! I am awesome! I NEED NO MEN! EVER! Really. I am TOTALLY OKAY BEING ALONE!” celebrations where I pretend not to be bitter.
Both of these situations suck. They’re both so cliche. Now, that doesn’t mean that I never act out of either emotion — I do, all of the time, but usually not on such a grand level as Valentine’s Day. But for years I, and numerous other singles, have exhausted so much energy hating the idea of Valentine’s Day or trying too hard to act like we don’t care. (Methinks thou doth protest too much, dears.)
This year, I made no plans. I got a few annoying text messages from single girlfriends about the horror of the day, but I didn’t respond to any of them. I had a piece of the candy my daddy always sends me and read the card my grandparents always give me (complete with a crisp $5 bill) and went to work, where I plugged in my headphones and, well, worked.
About mid-day I got a text from a girlfriend that was simple. “Single and fabulous girls only dinner tonight. Sushi. 6 p.m.”
We had a blast. There were a few jokes about our married/attached friends and that was that. Then we had a normal dinner like the normal adult women we all are for the other 364 days out of the year. We talked about our jobs and our families and our lives. Though we never actually acknowledged it, male-bashing was pretty much forbidden.
It was refreshing. I’ve spent so much time being unhappy because my life didn’t fit the Hallmark ideal of Valentine’s Day. It was nice to just have fun and enjoy my friends’ company in a stress-free situation.
I barhopped around to have a beer with some other groups of friends after dinner, but headed home early when the women started talking about how their exboyfriends should all be castrated. I was in too good of a mood to let some halfwit dredge up old anger about past wrongs. (I’m halfwitted enough to do that on my own. Just wait until tomorrow.)
It’s a lesson I’ll soon forget the next time a guy doesn’t call or says something insensitive or insulting. But for now, I feel, well, happy to have such great, charming (and yes) single friends.
I’ll sound like a dork saying this, but that’s one of the most emotionally healthy posts I’ve ever read about Valentines Day from a fellow single. Glad you made good with it.
You Go Girl! We’re SINGLE and FABULOUS!
Personally, I worked all day and night to avoid sitting at home pouting about the fact that this was the first V-Day in four years that I’ve been single and w/out a date on V-Day. But the future does look promising for me. I have a First Date tomorrow! Send some good vibes my way.
ShibaDiva
i’ve been single for more than a year now and i’d say it is pretty healthy for me (minus the beer and smokes). whenever my friends ask me if i were lonely being alone i’d always say “single or not, life can be lonely. at this rate i am living!”
cheers to singlehood
ps, hope u didn’t mind my guts commenting on your blog. g’day!
Thanks for all of the kind words, my single sistahs and brother.
Y’all remind me of how positive I was on V-Day the next time I fall head over feet in love with some loser and whine for three weeks about how he didn’t call, k?
Hey, if you are into contests there is a great contest on YouTube for Valentines Day. The contest is to create a video for the holiday. Actually its two contests, one is to make a video talking about your great love and the second is to actually do an online video proposal called “Will You Marry Me?” Here’s the URL http://www.youtube.com/greatestlovestories?cm_cid=twb8. Right now there are very few entries so you might have a good shot at winning.