I know a lot about Valentine’s Day can feel forced and contrived:
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Every grocery store, drug store, and department store is an explosion of red and pink, pushing “gifts she’ll love.”
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There’s a run on long-stemmed red roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolate, stuffed animals, and jewelry.
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Restaurants only do special menus with set prices, and so on.
And, all of those aspects of Valentine’s Day are generally geared toward heterosexual, cisgender folks, and their romantic relationships.
BUT. Valentine’s Day can and should be about so much more than all that.
It’s a day to celebrate love and care in all its forms:
Self-love, platonic love, aromantic relationships, parent-child love, friendship, and care and appreciation for the people in your life…just to name a few.
For me, it also feels good to tell people that I care about them, I love them, and I’m thinking of them. In the dark dreariness of February in the Pacific Northwest,
I’ll happily take that mood-booster!
Who would you like to show some love and care to this Valentine’s Day?
