Valentines Day - Why I Like it an Awful Lot

I don't deny that Valentines Day is absolutely arbitrary. I have heard a million schpiels from a million lonely people about how Halmark invented the holiday to increase their card sales, and I understand that is very true. But who gives a poop? Columbus landed in the wrong place and took horrible advantage of the indigenous population and we get a school day off; is it that awful that we celebrate love for a day?

I love love. It sounds lame, sure, but absolute, unconditional adoration for someone is by far the sweetest sentiment humans are capable of. Love doesn't have to be about your boo thang. I love a lot of people in my life. I love my parents, I love my sister, I love my dog, I love my girlfriend, I love my best friends. The oft-expressed concept that "love" is a once in a lifetime feeling that people hand out far too easily is total bullshit. Love is a chemical attatchment in your brain that can come about between any two people that make each other infinitely happy, and like any other "high", it makes you feel fantastic. You can fall in love one hundred times in a lifetime. You might never fall in love (though you have to go out of your way to be narrcasistic asshole to accomplish this feat). It's still freaking fantastic.

For someone as hopelessly self-involved as me, it continues to astonish me how much pure joy I get out of making others happy. Almost every decision I make in my life has some alterior motive, or self-serving cause. But I legitimately love the feeling I get from doing something wonderful for someone. It's disarming and reassuring to realize that at the core of me, there actually is some genuine sweetness. And no holiday brings out this feeling more than Valentines Day. So yes, I'm going to set up an elaborate chain of gifts for my beautiful girlfriend and yes I'm going to write her a goopy letter and yes I'm going to shower her in cheesy compliments. Yes, I'm going to tell my parents I love them, and yes I'm going to give my best friend a hug and yes I'm going to call my sister tonight. And yes, I'm going to be fully aware February 14th is just another day of 365, and yes I'm going to care too much and yes I'm going to feel like a character out of a bad rom-com. I'm going to do all of that. And I'm going to love it.