My feelings on Valentine's Day have gone through many permutations over the years. As a kid, it was my favorite holiday. I loved creating handmade momentoes for everyone in my class (stickers! doilies! lace galore!), and I always helped my mom bake cupcakes to bring to the school party. To this day I can recall the anticipation for that moment when the teacher told us to put our books away and let us circulate the classroom to distribute cards and sweets.
But then Valentine's Day stopped being fun and dissolved into a mess of disappointed expectations. Gone was the understanding that every construction paper mailbox would overflow with punny cartoon greetings. In its place arrived the overwrought angst that accompanies adolescence, followed closely behind by a hearty helping of sour grapes. I became an expert at pretending to want nothing while secretly hoping someone would knock my heart-printed socks off.
However in the past few years, Valentine's Day has made its way back into my good books—mostly because I've realized how manipulative an outlook I held all those years. If a key component of lasting love is open and honest communication, we should honor that on February 14th! Have a romantic agenda? Tell your sweetheart. Don't have a sweetheart? Treat yo'self. So often we unknowingly set ourselves up to feel lousy when in reality, happiness is just a heart-shaped doily away.
Shopping Guide: Eberjey Romper, Leather LOVE Pouch, Kiss Me Sweatshirt, Pearl Jewelry, Mini Ceramic Planter, Tassel Bracelet, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Nail Polish, Heart Matchbox.
I feel exactly the same way! Once you can tell yourself what you really want, Valentines becomes fun again. Puns, cookies and love. Great combo.