Carly Explains it all: Valentine's Day

My favorite February pastime as a kid was decorating shoeboxes. Our kitchen table was buried under Elmer’s Glue, iridescent glitter, paper hearts, felt, metallic spray paint, stencils, Mod Podge, pipe cleaners, plastic jewels, paint pens and Lisa Frank stickers for weeks. But the most important part of the box was that little slit cut out of the top, the entrance to a treasure trove of drugstore Valentines from all my friends, and maybe, just maybe, someone special.

But the only special Valentine I ever got back then was from my parents.

Valentine’s Day is a holiday that only gets better with age, but now that I’m old enough to really celebrate, it seems the world is increasingly repulsed by it. The way I see it, there are three types of people on Valentine’s Day: those who are in a relationship, those who couldn’t care less, and those who are out for anyone’s blood who remotely reminds them that they’re alone.

The fight against Valentine’s Day is everywhere, with events posted all over the web for parties where the broken-hearted and cynics can mingle in the name of hate. Citysearch.com has an “Anti-Valentine’s Day Planner” for “every Valentine’s Day-hating New Yorker” and The New York Times’s City Room blog features the darkest V-Day stories as told by divorce lawyers. Even one of my good friends spent a Valentine’s Day sitting on a stoop drinking whiskey and throwing fistfuls of candy hearts at passing couples.

Why does it have to be a battle? Just because you’re single this year doesn’t mean you will be next year. And so what if people are happy and you’re not. Maybe if you wipe that disgusted look off your face when you see couples and decide to be happy for other people you could get a date. Trust me, angry ain’t pretty.

It’s time for the jaded to change their minds about Valentine’s Day or risk losing the celebration all together. Just because you’re single doesn’t mean you’re banned from having fun. Get a group of friends together and celebrate like we used to in elementary school, except wash those chocolates down with beer instead of juice boxes. But don’t use it as your excuse to shit all over love with your anti-Cupid sentiments.

Because one day you will have a Valentine to celebrate with, and when that day comes you’re going to laugh at all the haters, too.