Happy Everyday Day!

Two Days Removed…

We are two days removed from Valentine’s Day, and the world has returned to the hum drum hustle and bustle that we are always inundated with.

This may not be the most uplifting post.  I am not against Valentine’s Day, I just want to discuss how, for those who are truly in love, Valentine’s Day is unnecessary.

Like most every holiday we celebrate in this country, Valentine’s Day is highly commercialized and seems to only work in favor of females.

On Tuesday, I was in Walmart, shopping for school supplies, fully aware that it was Valentine’s Day, but not truly caring.  And almost as if they were coming in via conveyor belt, I saw one older guy after another scanning the Valentine’s aisle, searching for flowers, candy and stuffed animals.  Poor fellas.  I’m sure there were tons of other things they could have been doing, but if they don’t put out the money for this day (and some have to put out a lot of money), they’ll never hear the end of it.

In my humble opinion, the truth is that if you show your affection every day, then Valentine’s Day won’t have to mean so much.  Don’t get me wrong.  You don’t have to buy your woman flowers and candy every day.  I would never condemn Earth’s men to that fate.  What I am talking about, are the little things.  The little things are often what makes life worth living. For example, I love ice.  I would rather eat a cup of ice than drink a soda, drink juice, drink anything for that matter.  So we go through a lot of ice at my house.  And furthermore, we have to manually fill the ice trays and sometimes I forget to perform this task.  A little thing that brings me joy, is when my man fills these trays without my asking; and even if I do ask, the fact that he does it for me, makes me happy.

Now I’m sure many of you are thinking, “Ice??”  She must be a cheap date.  And to that I say, Ha Ha Ha.  Very funny.  Anyway.  It’s all about dismissing false pretenses, and getting to the root of what makes you and your significant other happy.  If you like buying gifts for your girl or guy, and don’t feel obligated to do so just because you engage in coitus on a regular basis, then have it.  Do what you enjoy.  But if your driving force is, if I don’t get them something, they’ll never shut up, it may be time for some re-evaluation.  (Hmm, that may be too harsh…)  It may be time to talk about what’s truly important… (Yeah, that’s better.)

A long time ago, I asked my boyfriend’s mother, what she and her husband were doing for Valentine’s Day, and she said nothing.  At a certain point, you just don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day.  Being a teenager at the time, I thought that sounded terrible.  But now that I am more than two decades removed from the questions, with a house and a child with that same boyfriend; it’s best to focus on the things that count.  I don’t care whether or not he bought me flowers, I care that he was the first person to change our daughter’s diaper, when I was post-op and couldn’t even stand on my own;  or making hot tea for me, when the cold winter air sends me into a coughing fit.

Valentine’s Day is one day a year.  For that reason, it shouldn’t mean more, it should mean less.  Show your love and gratitude every day and that way, you won’t have any regrets.

 

-If you have enjoyed my commentary or my short stories, then please check out my youtube channel, The Wicked Orchard; where you can listen to me read my short stories

-And don’t forget to check out Comparative Reasoning here on wordpress for written commentary on a whole hosts of topics.

-If you’d rather listen than read, definitely check out Comparative Reasoning on youtube, where you’ll hear of earful of social, economic and political commentary.