VALENTINE'S DAY..JUST ANOTHER DAY?

Today is VALENTINE'S DAY!

I had put together a post of places to go to dinner and gift ideas for your significant other. But I was driving to work yesterday and listening to 98.5 KLUC // a local Vegas radio station // and they were talking about whether or not you should go on a first date on Valentine's Day. It was funny because they were at polar opposites in what they thought about it; People were either dead set against it or completely "why not" about the idea. Some believing that by going out on this one universal day of love you put too much pressure on yourself and the possible relationship. I just think it's so interesting that this one day can have such power over people. With all the flowers, chocolates, cards, gifts, dinners and so on, Valentine's Day is one of the heavy-weights of holidays. So before I tell you my stance, I kind of wanted to find out where Valentine's Day even started..I mean does anyone know?

Well if you are kind of a history buff like me and find that stuff interesting then this is what they say about Valentine's Day; It is actually a bit of a mystery, with a few different stories about St. Valentine and the day, February 14th. I think the most wide spread idea was that a Roman Emperor in the third century outlawed the marriage of young men because he thought that single men made better soldiers. St. Valentine who was a priest thought that this was a huge injustice and so married young lovers in secret. Ok, this would make sense why Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate love. But why do we celebrate on February 14th? This is where the politics of religion come into play. Basically Christianity doesn't approve of this pagan celebration of fertility called Lupercalia // things like some weird goat hide slapping and drawing your future lovers name out of a pot were involved // So they declare February 14th, the day before this festival, Valentine's Day in an effort to overshadow the pagan day. Not so romantic.. I like this fact better; February 14th was commonly believed to be the start of birds' mating season. Who better to listen to than Mother Nature on the subject of love? This is the cliff notes version of why we celebrate Valentine's Day. 

// If you want a bit more information, History.com has a little video that gives you some more romantic history facts and stories //

So with that bit of history in your head, here is how I feel about Valentine's Day;

I love love! I am a sucker for romantic comedies and candles and bright, beautiful flowers BUT I think people make way too big of a deal about this one particular day. Why put the weight, the pressure of finding and celebrating such a vast and indescribable thing as love in the confines of a 24 hour day? You don't fall in love in day and you certainly don't keep love by celebrating it once a year. When you are in love with someone and the right someone, you don't need one day to tell you to celebrate that love. You should be celebrating all year long, every single day you get to wake up and be with the one person you chose to go through life with. And if you are searching for love, then the day you meet won't make a difference at all, love is a force greater than what human beings can control, no matter how hard we try. To me Valentine's Day is just another day. I feel this way about most "special days" for example, birthdays or anniversaries. Now don't get me wrong, I think these things should be celebrated and enjoyed but who cares if it is on that exact day! If your anniversary is on a Wednesday and you want to go out of town to celebrate but your partner has to work... don't put the stress and guilt of the circumstances on them, they have no control of that, just go that weekend or the next or whenever you can. It doesn't make a difference what day you celebrate, what counts is what you are celebrating! A day on a calendar does not signify your love. And for that matter, the amount of red roses you get or the 40$ steak you buy doesn't either. Love can not be measured or controlled by anything we buy or any day we create, it's love. 

** Disclaimer: I am not saying that I don't celebrate Valentine's Day or have something against people who go all out. It is a day to celebrate one of the greatest things on Earth! What I am saying is don't let it control love.

If I had let Valentine's Day control love, my life might be very different. My little bit of history on Valentine's Day goes like this; My boyfriend // Jordan // and I's first date was on Valentine's Day! We were in our teens and still too young to drive so his dad dropped us off at this little Mexican restaurant we decided to just show up at. All I remember of that date is that he drank an abnormal amount of Dr. Pepper, I barely ate any of my food because for some reason I ordered a steaming, messy pile of fajitas that I was completely embarrassed to eat, and we talked as if we had known each other forever. It was by no means the most romantic place we could have gone and getting dropped off by your parents wasn't a great start either but none of that mattered, the day didn't matter, it was just about us. Love was there regardless of anything we did. We have now been together almost nine years and we still joke about that first date.

This year my Valentine's Day will be spent with Jordan cooking my favorite meal, opening a bottle of our favorite wine and sitting on the couch, watching a romantic comedy; And to be honest I wouldn't have it any other way. So guys don't stress about making Valentine's Day the end all be all of love, just go and celebrate. Whether you are alone or with someone, celebrate love however you think love should be celebrated and use the cosmic love floating around today as a reminder of how beautiful and worthwhile this most powerful emotion is! I hope love will come your way, but if not it's just another day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Lack of Color Fedora ( sold out in red but other colors here )

Kimono ( Japan )