You-Me

I have been going on and some might say, on and on about Valentine’s Day this week. As I pointed out yesterday, I am in a happy relationship, called marriage. I realize that not everyone else is in a relationship and my writing about, some might say bragging about mine is not particularly sympathetic to those who are single. I appreciate this and I mean no harm. I don’t want to hurt anyone else’s feelings, but on the other hand, I don’t feel that I need to be mum about it either. I could so easily be cruel if I wanted to be:

For all the single people who don’t have a valentine on Valentine’s Day… Don’t feel too bad, as most folks don’t have Aids on World Aids day either.

In response to Valentine’s Day, an opposition to it has arisen and not simply among all the single people. I know, because once I was in their number and I was even then committed to the same woman who I am now. I once saw Valentine’s Day as simply another Hallmark holiday, which is unfair. A hundred years ago, fledgling Hallmark issued its first valentine card. The mass exchange of valentines predates Hallmark by almost a century.

Do you have a date for this Valentine’s Day?
Yeah, February 14th.

We only still refer to Valentine’s Day with its original prefix, saint, in conjunction with the gangland Chicago massacre that occurred on this date. Its origin dates back to the middle ages as the Catholic feast of Saint Valentine, which was co-opted from the pagan Roman fertility celebration Lupercalia. Saint Valentine was believed to have been an early Christian martyr, so priests saying Mass on his day wore red vestments symbolizing his martyr’s blood. Saint Valentine was thought to have had something vaguely to do with love. These two traits led to the modern holiday. The Church has subsequently determined that Valentine was a fictitious character and is no longer considered a saint, except of course, in association with Al Capone.

Every woman is a mystery to be solved. – Don Juan

Now that I have wrung all the romance out of this holiday that is dedicated to love, let me say that I am undeterred in my celebration of it. I guess that I am just a hopeless romantic. I used to chide Anne for crying at mushy movies, but now I am the first to well up in the theater or on the couch. I have plans for Valentine’s Day. Whether it is to be a romantic dinner at home, or a night on the town, I shall not announce. I will announce that I am taking tomorrow night off from this blog, because I do have other plans.