A Valentine's Day To Remember

In the past I've always hated Valentine's Day or Single's Awareness Day as I tended to call it along with the myriad of other people who didn't have a significant other to spend the day with.  I would get depressed that I was still single after however many years it had been since my ex and I broke up.  So I would spend Valentine's Day depressed that I was single and annoyed every time I saw some giggling couple go by.  For the most part I've gotten better with it and just tried to focus on other things and convince myself it wasn't a big deal.  This year was slightly harder because within the last couple of months several people I know have either gotten married or announced that they're expecting kids.  Normally I wouldn't think much of it except for the fact that they're all three, even four years younger than me.  Much as I am happy for them it does make me very aware of the fact that I haven't had a real date in almost exactly four years now while many of my Facebook friends, most of whom are my age or younger, are raving about their fantastic boyfriends or girlfriends and the latest date they've gone on.  And I know, nobody wants to date the fat girl, but when most of the girls at my work who are my size or bigger are also raving about their fantastic boyfriends or girlfriends, I start to figure something must be seriously wrong with me.

But, I decided that this year, I wasn't going to focus on that.  Most years I haven't had anything planned for Valentine's Day.  If I was working then I worked, went home and generally felt sorry for myself.  If I didn't work then I just stayed home and felt sorry for myself.  I didn't want to do that this year, it just wasn't worth all the energy it took.  So I figured if no guy wants to take me out on date, well, fine, I'll take myself on a date!  So yesterday I headed over to Walmart which was decorated all over with these garish pink balloons that kind of made me want to gag and made my way down the overly decorated aisles and picked out a few pieces of cheap candy and some gum.  Its so convenient that they're both in the same place.  So I had my candy, I figured I'd make some popcorn, curl up with my giant teddy bear and watch Desolation of Smaug on my computer.

So by the end of my work day today I was really looking forward to some me time after dealing with a bunch of very grouchy people all day.  Seriously, folks, I was NOT feeling the love today.  When I got home, instead of just finding my grandmother home, my mom was home early and she had a surprise:  steak and lobster tails.  Now I don't know about your families but mine does not eat steak all that often and none of us had ever cooked lobster tails before.  So instead of holing up in my room as planned, I ended up cooking with my mom which was even better and then sitting down and having dinner with my parents and watching the U.S. take the silver medal in the women's skeleton.  Yay for finally watching some Olympics!  And then after cleaning up I went and watched DoS and had some chocolate.  So even though Prince Charming didn't come riding up on his white horse (hey, a girl can still dream, right?), all in all, I have to say this was probably the best Valentine's Day I have ever had.  I love spending time with my parents and getting to cook with my mom is one of my favorite things.  Top that off with one of my favorite movies and it makes for a pretty fantastic way to end the day. It was certainly infinitely better than feeling sorry for myself all day.  I think I will have to remember to do this every year.  Well, maybe not the steak and lobster, though I certainly wouldn't object, but definitely keeping myself busy and planning something for myself, even if it is as simple as just watching a movie.  So here's to you and hoping you had a great Valentine's Day as well!