In all honesty, I’ve never been too fond of Valentine’s Day. The holiday has come and gone every year without any emotional impact on me. Whether single or in a relationship, it never occurred to me to celebrate, so the past 18 years of my life have been spent ignoring the February holiday entirely.
This year, I had a change of heart, and I’m so glad that I did. I saw how excited other people were for Valentine’s and it put the day back on my radar. Cute red and pink outfits sprawled across the CU Boulder campus, my sister cooked heart shaped pasta for me and my friends asked to hang out. It was like a switch had flipped; suddenly, I was thinking about the best way to make chocolate-covered strawberries and what colors I should wear the week of Valentine’s.
This newfound enthusiasm brought back a sense of nostalgia. I recalled sweet memories of Valentine’s Day in elementary school constituted by shoeboxes, candy, innocent heart-shaped notes and giggles of naive children – a simpler time that I dearly missed. It made me question, what prevents me from enjoying the holiday now?
Did I grow up and deem the holiday to be foolish, unimportant? Did I simply forget about it after leaving the elementary school setting, where there was time to cherish small things? Did I realize the role of romance in people’s lives, and feel bitter?
Whatever the reason, the truth of the matter is that nothing should be stopping me from liking Valentine’s Day. Upon this understanding, I threw my indifference out the window and made Valentine’s plans. Or, more accurately, Galentine’s plans. Valentine’s Day isn’t only about romantic love. It’s about all kinds of love: platonic, familial, self-love, etc. It comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s unconditional and stunning.
My Galentine’s plans were cute, fun and simply served as a way for me and my friends to be girls together. I saw and caught up with friends I hadn’t seen in weeks. We laughed, ate sugar cookies with strawberry jam, painted pottery and wine glasses and took silly photos. I learned new details about their respective lives, ranging from disastrous Hinge dates to scholarship applications. As I looked around at them, my heart felt incredibly full. I may be single at the moment, but my life is full of wonderful people. How can I not appreciate that?
The world runs on love. It courses through every human’s veins. Of course we have a holiday for it. I can’t believe it took me this long to adore Valentine’s Day in all its glory but I truly do now. Love is love is love and nothing gets more beautiful than that.