Love Letter

This post was originally written on Valentine’s Day 2011; however, I am reposting it to Scribbles & Tostitos. Enjoy!

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Welcome to Valentine’s Day.

Normally, I would greet Valentine’s Day with excitement. Thinking that since the day is full of love and surprises, a rose from a “Secret Admirer” will mysteriously arrive on my doorstep. Or even better, I’ll meet the man of my dreams somewhere between work and home and we’ll drive into the sunset and live happily ever after. Although these things never happen, it did come close to happening one year. In 8th grade, a boy bought me some flowers he picked from his backyard and asked me to be his girlfriend. And said I said yes, of course. How sweet.

This year, however, I am not excited about this year’s Day of Love. I have been dreading Valentine’s Day ever since we entered the New Year. I told my girl friends over dinner one night, “I’m just going to act like VDay doesn’t exist. Go to work. Doctor visit. Home. Then sleep. I’m just going to ignore it. What’s the point in celebrating Valentine’s Day anyway?”

But my plan to ignore Valentine’s Day is not panning out like I imagined. Every morning since Feb 1st, my e-mail has bombarded by promotions from businesses offering special VDay deals. Grocery stores are filled with heart shaped balloons, fresh colorful flowers, red and pink ribbons and my favorite – heart shaped cookies with pink frosting. Shopping malls have been filled with couples who are seemingly on Cloud 9 – hand in hand, gazing into each other’s eyes. Just enough to make a single person cry. So, I’ve decided to accept it. Valentine’s Day is here, whether we like it or not.

While I am well aware of my single status, and my awareness has been heightened (thanks to this day of Love), I refuse to be depressed. Yes, my love life has not been going the way that I would like it to. And no, I haven’t been fortunate in the Love Department, but hey, at least I’m with someone who I love and appreciate – Myself. And to top it all off, I know that my time for love and a relationship is coming soon.

I think of my time for love like my birthday. Everyone has a birthday. Some people celebrate their birthdays early in the year, January or February where lots of others celebrate their Special day late in the year. Regardless of when your birthday is, you know that every year it is coming up no matter what.

My birthday is in July. And when I was in elementary school, I used to envy my classmates who had birthdays during the schoolyear. Their mothers would bring them cookies, cupcakes or cake during class. We sang “Happy Birthday” and they even received gifts from their classmates!  As a kid, I regretted having a summer birthday. During the summer, my friends would be vacationing out of town and unable to attend my birthday party.

As I grew older, however, I learned to appreciate my birthday.  I could stay up as late as I wanted and I did not have to do any homework. The weather is warm. Pool Pool parties, beaches, amusement parks and cookouts are available to me. And I could wear cute summer dresses with high heeled sandals and not worry about those pesky winter coats and hats. Sure, I have to wait 7 months for my birthday to arrive, but it’s worth it. It’s My Day and it’s perfect for me. I don’t like cold weather, so I wouldn’t like a birthday in the early part of the year. Spring brings on my allergies. Fall dampens my mood, simply because it means that summer’s ended and Winter’s near. So Summer is a perfect time to celebrate my birthday.

And just like your birthday happens on whatever day is “perfect” for you, you will meet that Special Someone when the time is right. Maybe this time isn’t perfect for you right now. Maybe that Special Someone is still trying to find himself, or maybe there are some things that you need to sort out for yourself before your Prince can be revealed.

Whatever your situation is, keep your head up. Keep loving yourself. And you never know, maybe next year the man of your dreams will show up at your doorstep, chocolate in hand with a dozen roses waiting to scoop you off your feet. asking you to be his, forever.

What? Don’t look at me like that. It’s your Special Day, so anything could happen 😉

Happy Valentine’s Day.