Valentine's Day

Flowers flying cross the room
Vases smashed against the floor
Said "I'd rather be alone
Take your chocolates and go home"

I'm really not that cynical about this day, but given my recent mood for Drive By Truckers tunes, I figured the above lyrics from "Feb. 14" were appropriate. :^)


I do like Valentine's Day, but I don't like to celebrate it just for the sake of celebrating it. In other words, I'm not the type who goes out looking for someone to buy me flowers in honor of two Roman Saints who nobody knows anything about (even the Catholic Church).

So, I'm sure many ladies will think I'm crazy for this, but I actually turned down an offer to have supper cooked for me tonight in favor of enjoying the one day I'll have to myself this week. It was a very nice gesture, but I barely know the person who offered. It just seems so forced and unnatural to celebrate Valentine's with someone you've only had one date with. Now, if I was in a relationship with this person, it would be completely different. I just don't want the guy to go to all the trouble and get nothing out of it, because he wouldn't get anything out of it. That may sound a little cruel, but I've come to one very important realization: I have absolutely no obligation to give anything a date may think he is owed.

Some men feel that buying a woman dinner and taking her out and so forth gives them certain rights. Where is this written? Was it one of the Commandments that God told Moses to edit? Until someone can show me the section in the penal code that states that a woman must bow at her date's beneficience, I refuse to give in to this manifesto.

I also refuse to grin and nod when I am handed a large red stuffed frog bearing the words "BE MINE" on the bottom of his foot. Valentine's Day is just the sort of holiday that warrents yard sales. Especially when you give in to the "just because it's Valentine's" date. This is why Valentine's should be reserved for those who are already in a relationship. I don't know how most women are, but I think it's a little bit creepy to be offered gifts right away in a new relationship - even if it is Valentine's Day. Again, it gives you that sense of obligation and the man more power than he should have at that stage.

I have ranted, and I'm about done now, but I'm sick and tired of feeling guilty and being asked to further explain my dating/relationship actions. It's exhausting and I'm getting too damn old for it.

Now, I have an evening of a bath, a book, and a DVD ahead of me to plan. And I haven't looked forward to anything this much in a long time. :^)


One of my favorite love songs courtesy of the Dead Milkmen: