I Heart Heart Day

When I was growing up, my mom always made holidays special for us. My sister and I both had summer birthdays, so my mom made sure we brought cupcakes on our half birthdays. To this day, February 1st doesn't go by without me thinking about that. My mom wasn't the best baker on the planet, but she did make these brownies. Amazing brownies. They were peppermint and had a layer of icing and a layer of drizzled chocolate on top of them. She would make them for Christmas and Valentine's Day. She always dyed the middle-frosting layer for the holiday and cut them into shapes. Crazy, I know, but nothing says Valentine's Day more to me than a heart-shaped peppermint brownie.

As I have become an adult, I have spent more Valentine's Days without a Valentine and I have been soured by love on more than one occasion, but I have never been soured on Valentine's Day. When I taught (and I should mention that I taught high school kids), I meticulously wrote out Valentine's for all my students - Star Wars ones I might add. Some of my most favorite Valentine's Day cards that I have ever received were the ones I received from them.

I realize that I am nerdy and geeky and in the minority, but I find nothing wrong with a holiday that has me getting and giving chocolates and cards and telling people that I love, how I feel about them. Yes, it has become commercial and yes, you should tell the people you love how you feel every day of the year, but what's wrong with taking a day out of the year and making a point out of it? Why do so many revile it?

I used to believe that people who didn’t like the holiday had bad experiences with it. However, I spent a Valentine’s Day in the ER with a roommate while he bled from his mouth – bad dental moment. And I lived to tell the tale, laugh about it and still love the day. So, why all the angst toward the day?

I know that everyone reading this is gearing up to reply with comments like:

“Dea, it is an over-commercialized holiday fabricated by Hallmark and American Greetings.”

“Dea, don’t you know how much pink and red and heart-shaped things suck?”

“Dea, have your birthday on V-Day and get back to me.”

“Dea, haven’t you ever ridden the Valentine’s Day Bus? I mean, really, it is like Cupid threw up in there.”

I know all this and still I say, “What is wrong with taking a day to remind people that they mean something to you? That they make you who you are as a person. That they bring meaning to a sometimes—most of the time—confusing world.” Should you do it everyday? Sure. But what’s wrong with taking out one day and making sure the message is heard? And including peppermint heart brownies.