A Stupid Holiday

Today is A Stupid Holiday. Not because I'm a bitter, scorned woman. Nope. I'm very happily married to a man who is way more a husband and father I could have ever hoped for. But, this post isn't about him. Well, not all of it.

I will try to take you through some of my past Valentine's Days, and really, until I got married, I never had a Valentine. I met Scott on Groundhog's Day, so that first Valentine's Day we weren't really together together, at least not in the sense of officially being boyfriend/girlfriend. In fact, I don't even think I got a phone call from him that day, and we had been 'talking' among other things since Feb. 2.

The second Valentine's we experienced together was after our first year anniversary of dating exclusively in college, and to date exclusively in college for a year meant practically marriage. In my eyes anyway. So, we had just celebrated very romantically our one year anniversary, he had just come home with me to share in my dad's fiftieth birthday party that weekend, and then, and then...

TWO DAYS BEFORE VALENTINE'S DAY, IN 1991, HE DUMPED MY ASS.

And not because of another girl. Nope, he just wanted to put things "on the back burner for a while."

The following weekend, my roommate had called me up at my parent's home (because I couldn't possibly hang out at school on the weekends because Scott was a bouncer at the bar we girls always went to (THE SAME BAR SCOTT AND I MET A YEAR EARLIER).

Wow, maybe I shouldn't be writing this on Valentine's Day as I'm feeling quite bitter suddenly.

So my roommate calls me up and tells me another friend of ours had seen Scott out at a restaurant with ANOTHER GIRL ON THE WEEKEND OF VALENTINES! Ok, in college, you did not take girls out to dinner. You were lucky if a beer was bought for you at a bar, but dinner? Not something college kids did as there was this thing called Money, that no one had. And certainly, Scott was no exception to the rule. And he takes this girl out not five days after dumping me!

This was the official cue for me to move on. And I did. Very slowly, very dramatically. And it was the greatest weight loss plan ever designed. Forget Weight Watchers, Forget Jenny Craig. I'll take the "Thanks-but-I-Can't-Eat-As-My-Heart's-Been-Shredded-To-Pieces" Diet Plan. I lost twelve pounds in two weeks. Food just would not go down. I remember trying to eat a granola bar and the pieces of whatever is in a granola bar just would not mix with my saliva and I was physically unable to swallow. It was dramatic and traumatic, and to this day, even my roommates say that was the worst time in THEIR lives--living with me. Anyway, this was not what I wanted to write about, I didn't think so anyway... btw, Scott and I are fine now (until February 12 rolls around each year and I remind him that it's the anniversary of the worst day in my entire life).

I wanted to talk about one of the most 'unique' Valentine's Days I had. My roommate and I were feeling anti-loved, anti-Valentine's Day so we decorated our dorm room with black construction paper hearts and planned on going out and bad-mouthing every cute little couple out there. Oh, and we also planned on getting drunk. So, we got ready for this party we were going to, and I'm sure we both dressed in black to make a statement on how we were feeling that day. At the party, we found a very nice boy, a very unsuspecting young collegiate who was wearing a black fedora. We kidnapped him, took him back to our black-hearted cavern of a dorm room and forced him... literally forced him...

Are you ready for this?

We forced him to buy us a pizza.

It was one of the best Valentine's Days ever! We had a boy, and we had food.

Anyway, the point is... do I have a point here? OK, I've thought of a point. No matter who you are, where you are, who you have been with, who you want to be with, how you feel, remember this: You may not have the love of your life yet, you may still be searching (shout out to Dating Dummy and Breakup Babe), but there is somebody out there that loves you. It may not be a physical love. It may be familial (sp?) or friendship, or a closeness with a special person, but each and every one of you out there can say that at least you are loved by one person, whether it be a friend, a parent, a sibling, a child, another relative, a clerk at the store you frequent. But, you are loved by someone.

So, Happy Stupid Holiday to you! Cuz, really, it is a stupid holiday--we don't even get the day off! Now, go eat a piece of chocolate and give yourself a hug! xo