Are You Ready To Fail?

Valentine’s Day.  It’s almost here, and I hate it.  

Not because I’m single (I hated it even when I was part of a couple), not because it’s oversold by retailers, and not because I’m a big grump.  I hate it because, like New Year’s Eve, it’s almost impossible to live up to society’s expectations of a “good” Valentine’s Day.  If you don’t – God forbid! – have the perfect relationship, with a significant other who planned a perfect evening, you damn well better have creative and exciting plans about how to spend the evening as a lonely single.  Or perhaps it’s best, if you’re single, if you just hide under a rock to avoid embarrassing yourself.

Wait, what?  Yes, once again, single-hood is maligned.  Because it’s not “normal”.   You know, I’m a big fan of marriage – for other people.  And please, marry anyone you want.  But where are the demonstrations supporting my choice to live singly?  Where are the slogans?  The banners?  The online petitions?

Yes, before you say it, I’m exaggerating for effect – no-one, you say, is legislating against my right to be single.  No, they’re not, and again, before you say it, I do know that that’s more egregious than the social gauntlets I run. Despite the evidence of two blog posts, I don’t brood about this issue – but made-up, high expectation holidays like Valentine’s Day get to me.  No matter what you do, it’s probably not romantic/exciting/sexy/memorable enough.

So, I’ll probably meet up with friends, maybe have a few drinks, and we’ll laugh together about how we have avoided the craziness that is V-Day.  And afterwards, I’m pretty sure we’ll have had as much if not more fun than those obsessing about having the “perfect” Valentine’s Day…