Valentine Day Memoirs

Haha! Ok. Sorry. This is funny to me before I even start writing it. BUT, let’s get down to business folks, because today is not just Valentine’s Day, it's also Friday which to a certain extent means more to me than if it were Easter, ‘cause that means, that after this long ass week, I get to go home, relax and enjoy the weekend.

So it’s Valentine’s Day. Who came up with this? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that the moment you wake up in the morning you’ll know the world around you will be divided pretty much into three categories. Those who are in love/want to be in love/think they are in love/pretend to be in love and who celebrate February 14. Those who are single and think of today as of a chance to signal others they are available and so they go all pretty and trendy and fashionable / I would also include the single and “bitter” ones in this category. Who know they are single and resent it and look like they don’t care, when they do care and they are irritated by the “love” display of other people. And third but not last and surely the most blessed one, those people who don’t care as in they don’t give a shit, in as much as to remember what day is today. Less be preoccupied with it. And we’re talking singles, couples, married people – people for whom love doesn’t come as a one day celebration but as a constant thing. People who don’t need to plan on a romantic gift, going out and getting laid as an agenda to be checked for February 14. Oops!

Where do I stand? Haha That’s the question. I don’t find myself in any category, but a bit in all three. I feel loved, want to be loved, would love to hook up with someone worthwhile, I do get melancholic about dating and holding hands and resent that I don’t sometimes. And then again, I really don’t care I don’t have a man to celebrate this over-commercialized Saint Valentine because I have fun with men in all other days of the year, outside February 14 haha. And the best part about being me is that I can always count on friends to show me that kind of love and fun that I need to feel like a true Valentine.

When I was in college I remember I spent one Valentine playing with my land lady’s nephew, Radu – I still have all dried and pressed, the little flower he gave me that day – he was only 4. Then I ended up watching a horror movie with my friends, all hiding under the blanket in the same crowded bed. Haha. Last year, I celebrated Valentine with my dear friend Adinut. We met down town and shared small gifts and then went to the tea house and had an absolutely lovely evening and we couldn’t have been more giggly and girly than that. And I don’t think I felt for one second that I’m deprived of love just ‘cause I was going out with a friend and not a guy.

This year, it’s Emily’s turn. Of course she’s in Brussels. But when did distance ever keep us two apart? We planned the menu and the movies and if it weren’t for the one hour time difference between us, it would feel as if we’re literally next to each other. And I am excited. Magic Mike – I mean, come on! Haha How hard can it be to watch gorgeous men dancing naked on a wide screen, while I’m in a peach silky bathrobe eating tortillas and guacamole!?! Hahaha And commenting every scene, every other minute (every flex in those muscles too haha!! just a thought!!!)?

People should not let themselves be brought down on such a day and understand love is so much more and beyond a couple. It can be a team. It can be friendship. It can be a child. God, it can be a stranger offering you a helping hand to cross a puddle in the middle of the muddy street. Love it’s in the eyes of the beholder. One of my friends Carmen, was commenting on FB earlier about a guy reading his newspaper on the subway, looking at this girl smiling widely, listening to music and nodding her head with the rhythm at 9:00AM in the morning on a crowded sub. And he probably thought she was a little gone with the wind haha. Funny enough, I was doing the same exact thing at the same exact time. Looking at people’s faces and their reactions is something that just happens to me and I could notice all of the above.

More so I arrive at work and get word from my long time friend Madalin who is literally so sugar coated with the “love comments” on Facebook that he feels the need to take a break from his profile for fear of catching diabetes. Haha He says, if at least they spelled it right and stopped putting “y” instead of “i” in words. Plus too many "I love yous” and “uou’re the one” tend to kill the romance! Haha

I am sure Valentine is a different experience with all of us. The only thing I’m left to say is is have fun and make it worth while remember. Don’t dwell on whatever may make you sad or unhappy. But find the one thing or person that would make this Valentine what you want it to be: lovely, goofy, fun, crazy, idiotic, cozy or comfy. So… Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! 

MUAH

P.S. And talking about love and how it can surprise you in different ways. I was coming down the stairs to the mall on my way to work when I met one of our colleagues (it's a She - can never tell gender with English haha) and I was literally pleased to see her, so I wished her Happy Valentine, grabbed her and planted a big fat kiss on her cheek. She said "I'm on my way to grab some candy for the kids..." We went our separate ways and then an hour later she showed up with candy to tell us all Happy Valentine. This is how life does things. Appreciate it! :)