Honestly, I've never understood why single people hate Valentine's Day. I've never dated ever in my life, and I still absolutely love Valentine's Day - I have since I was little, as you can see from my memory catalog:
I have a memory from I don't know when (it was before I was 10 years old because we are still living in Baltimore during this memory) of making Valentines as a craft project with my mom for my best friend Liza and for my parents' friends. My mom showed me the accordion paper cutting trick - fold a piece of paper up like an accordion, carefully cut out a shape (like a heart), leaving part of the edge uncut, unfold and voila! a string of paper hearts that instantly make a Valentine.
For several years (I don't remember when she started), my grandma would send us Valentines that she had picked up for free at the library, and each Valentine came with a fresh, crisp new dollar bill. When I was little, a dollar bill was a lot of money, and as I got older, it was simply the tradition of receiving a Valentine from Bestemor that made it special.
When I was in sixth (or seventh?) grade (it gets hard to keep track when you're home schooled), I actually had a secret pen pal over Valentine's day. It turned out to be one of my best friends sending me letters through our class mailing system, but it was still really fun.
When I was in sixth grade, a whole bunch of girls from my church had a Valentine's day baking party. We made really yummy cookies and each girl there had a brown paper bag labeled with their name on it. We crafted and delivered Valentine's all day long. Many of those Valentines are in my scrapbooks, and I love the memory of that day.
When I hit high school, Valentine's day lost some of its luster. Sure, they sold candy grams in the cafeteria, and we had some fun days, but I had gotten kind of busy at that point in my life. I still got Valentines from Bestemor, and, when my little sisters remembered, I got the occasional crayon drawing on Valentine's. Valentine's never felt lonely for me, because most of my friends weren't dating anyways, so it passed by with the occasional mention of St. Valentine in history class.
Last year, my freshmen year of college, Katrina surprised me with an adorable little box filled with candy for Valentine's day, and Christina and I created the chocolate and movie tradition. It was a blast, and we repeated it again this year. For cards this year, I crafted little origami Valentine's for my entire floor and a personalized one for Katrina. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a long stem rose from Alec - I love flowers of any kind and really enjoy receiving one.
Some of my favorite social media posts today have been from single people, like myself, who are able to enjoy the day. On a final note, to wish all of you Happy Valentine's day, this is the picture from Katrina's Pixar-a-Day calendar:
http://insomniacharold.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/up_ellie_carl_mailbox.jpg
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