Why I'm content to be single on Valentine's Day

While another girl might be spending her Friday night out with curls turned cement by hairspray, wearing her mother’s borrowed black dress and blistering heels in a restaurant popping and packed to the point she elbows the table next to her, I’ll be sitting at home, wrapped in a blanket wearing my button-eyed fox slippers with my nose deep in a book, or planning the next issue of the paper. And this Valentine’s Day is going to be no exception.

For the first time since my junior year of high school, I’m flying solo on The Day of Love. And, in all honesty, I could not be happier.

Besides being an introvert and an avid hater of holiday crowds (two words: Black Friday *shudders*) not having an S.O. isn’t something that bothers me at any other time of the year. In my person- al opinion, and this won’t be right for everyone, I’ve found that it minimizes drama and is one less thing to demand my attention in an ever-more-hectic schedule. So why would I feel like I’m missing out on this one day of the year if I don’t have some poor fellow on my front stoop in a stuffy rented tux with a bustling bouquet of roses, ready to proclaim his love for me? (Pro tip: boyfriends who do this are the exception, not the norm. Based on my personal dating experiences, I’d consider myself lucky if I even got a single M&M.)

The sad part is, though, there will be people on this holiday who will measure themselves by this Romeo-and-Juliet- scale of love (Polite reminder: Seven people died because of that affair. Just saying.). And to those people, I ask this question: if you feel loved and appreciated every other day of the year, whether it’s by friends, parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, professors, neighbors, even co-workers...then what makes Valentine’s Day any different? And in all honesty, if someone waited until Valentine’s Day to pull, out of the blue, this spectacular show of love (complete with fireworks and jazz hands) I’m not sure I’d be entirely convinced.

Another added bonus: this is the one time of the year that you can buy a crap ton of chocolate for yourself and not get judged by the cashier. (Because clearly if it has a heart and a big red bow on it it’s for someone else, and is totally not go- ing to get wolfed down in the backseat of your car in the parking lot.)

In all actuality, on Feb. 14, I won’t even be at home. This year, Valentine’s Day happens to fall on a Tuesday—our production day here at The Weekly. So instead of a nice, quiet evening in my room, I’ll be proofing InDesign files late into the night, a GQ sandwich half-eaten at my elbow, probably listening to Greg cursing at the ancient printer we named Bessie. My day will be filled with helping editors fill sections, tweaking textboxes, converting images, and probably spend- ing about 45 minutes trying to figure out what the heck that random blue line on the screen is. And, for me... that’s the perfect Valentine’s Day.

Disclaimer: I recognize in a world filled with hate how important it is to take a day to celebrate and honor love. I’m not trying to demoralize Valentine’s Day, but rather to remind everyone that you don’t need to be in a romantic relationship to feel loved.