Stupid Cupid

So far my Valentines Day has been made up of: extra sleep, grading assignments in my pj's and contemplating where we might go for dinner--i'm not allowed to know till we get there. I really wonder about all of the hype that goes with Valentines Day. I mean, yes it's always nice to express your love for the person you call your Valentine; but what is it all really for? I have several friends who got engaged on that day: ok that is quite a good reason to celebrate. I also know someone who has a birthday that falls within a couple days of February 14th and always had red and white plates at their birthday celebration. I believe one year we even ate birthday cake from heart shaped bowls. It is a novelty, I get that part.

But what about those of us who have been through thirty something Valentines Days and other than chocolate, don't have a mind-blowing association for it. Me, I went to see The Wolfman last night, and today I slept in which I hardly get to do. Thats pretty much enough for me. Just to know I don't have to get up and leave the house before dawn (and it helps that tomorrow is also a holiday and therefore no work) or even shower till late afternoon if I don't want to--that's all I need. I'm totally good. The fact that we get to have a nice dinner out--bonus.

That's just me however. Apparently, people really do stuff like buy gold dipped roses and as I watched in horror yesterday, the news told me that people spend an average of $103 on Valentines gifts. Thinking about where the world is right now, and contemplating that the total would be in the billions if we added up all those $103's, I just have to wonder...
Of course the news also said that spending is down 5% from last year, but what would happen if we took all those $103's and send them to Haiti or New Orleans or Shorty's Rescue or Dogtown. Good things right? In fact, billions of dollars of good things would occur.

Ok I'll stop killing the spirit of the Hallmark Holiday. But you have to admit it's something to think about...isn't it? If all that cash spent on junk food that's bad for us, flowers that die, and...reassuring people we love that we didn't forget they were there? (Do we honestly think they forgot?) What does that say about our priorities? I'm really not worried about other people's priorities too much. However I will say that all I've learned through my thirtysomething Valentines Days is that I like sleeping in, prefer dark chocolate, and always overanalyze things.