Today is a Monday. Usually on Mondays I roll out of bed, throw on a pair of sweatpants, and head to school still half asleep. However, this morning was different. When I woke up I was in a fairly good mood (which is much better than I can say for most Mondays), I dressed in red and pink, and I walked into school to see many other people dressed in the same colors. If you haven’t figured it out already, today is Valentine’s Day!
Valentine’s Day means something different to everybody. Most commonly, it is a holiday during which two people in a romantic relationship express their love and appreciation for one another through cards, candies, and gifts. In my family, Valentine’s Day is a holiday for expressing familial love as well. My mother always gets my sister and I Valentine’s Day gifts to show us how much she cares about us. There are also some people who find this holiday to be pointless because they feel that love shouldn’t be more important on any one day than on others.
Although initially the way that you perceive Valentine’s Day may seem unimportant, it actually reveals information about your identity. They types of relationships you choose to celebrate on holidays such as this one show which relationships are the most important to you. For some people, the most important person in their life might be a boyfriend, girlfriend, or spouse, so they choose to celebrate their relationship with this person. Some people are more family oriented, so they choose to have a nice dinner with their whole family or call their parents to tell them how much they mean to them. There are also some people who are less comfortable expressing their emotions than others, so even if they have relationships to celebrate, they don’t do so with big, loving gestures. Valentine’s Day can also be a holiday for celebrating friendships, so some people choose to just go out to dinner with some of their closest friends. However we choose to spend our holiday, we are revealing which relationships are the most important to us and how comfortable we are with expressing this importance.
Great post Alli! I definitely see what you're saying about the variety of ways Valentine's Day can be approached by different people. In junior high, I hated Valentine's Day. I used to wear black and repeat the mantra that love shouldn't just be reserved for one specific day. That was definitely, in part, due to boy troubles. However, this year (as you know) I put a lot of thought and effort into Valentine's Day because of my boyfriend. But, like your family, my family celebrates the familial love as well so I enjoyed a nice dinner with all of them before spending a bit of time with Alex. However, what I am most looking forward to is spending a date with you, Margot, and Ali! I think a day with the girls is really a great way to approach Valentine's Day. I know that yesterday many girls were dressed in love-y colors, whereas most boys were not. I think in many ways more girls seem to value and anticipate the holiday, so it's nice to know you can hang out with your girlfriends if the boys let you down! :)
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