Stupid Cupid...

Charmian's blog http://christie-corner.blogspot.com/2009/02/belated-valentine-day.html on Valentine's Day has inspired me to my own true confession...

I hate Valentine's Day. I always have. My husband and I celebrate it on the day before or the day after. Why?

• I was not a popular kid in school. I was the Charlie Brown of Wilder Penfield Elementary School. In retrospect, some of it was my own doing because I hadn't learned yet that being smart did not mean you had to tell the whole world all the time. I also have a loving, if somewhat overprotective mom who sent her only child to daycamp with a pillow to sit on...Anyway, I did not get a great deal of Valentines, although I painstakingly filled mine out each year, for each person in the class. (my mom's smart rule, which I will also be enforcing when my kid hits school)
  
• In high school, I went to St. Mary's Catholic Girls' School. (Complete with kilt. To this day, I will not wear plaid) St. Jerome's Catholic Boys' School was across the road (literally). Some bright light somewhere thought it would be a good idea to allow the boys and girls to send flowers to each other on Valentine's Day in homeroom. I never got a flower. ever. Only 2 or 3 girls in class got a flower...and 25 of us were left feeling like a piece of crap. For someone with self-esteem issues to begin with, it was not a big boost to the ego, ya know.
• I had two serious relationships break up on Valentine's Day. Enough said about THAT.

When my husband and I were first dating, I flat out refused to go out with him on Valentine's Day. I told him I would see him happily the day before...or the day after, but February 14 was verboten. We had a nicer dinner on the 13th, without the jacked up price of the 14th, at the same place we would have gone on the 14th.

We have continued this tradition through our 12 year relationship and 10 year marriage. Since our daughter arrived, Valentine's Day is a more of a big deal now that she's in pre-school. She got Valentines, and we made Valentines for everyone in her class (and I sent a couple of extras just in case) We went out for dinner en famille (on the 13th) and I made a nice dinner last night for a belated celebration. I did wear red on Valentine's Day, but I was working a booth for my friend at the Total Woman's Show and wanted to look presentable.

I would rather get a "just because" present on an ordinary day than a "duty" gift on a date on the calendar. We exchanged cards, gave my daughter a sugar rush and got on with our day. I don't need a fancy gift on February 14th to know my husband loves me. Bringing me a coffee from Tim Hortons on a night when I have to go out and it's been a challenging day tells me that far more eloquently than a heart shaped box of crappy chocolate ever could.

So begone Cupid. You bug me.