Felice San Valentino!

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Happy Valentine's Day

This morning I could not help but to reminisce on past holidays. Personally, I feel like I have been very lucky. As many of you know, in high school I was the biggest hopeless romantic you could find. I was all about the flowers, the love, the cute little gifts, the butterflies, etc. One of my favorite memories in high school was sophomore year when Casey Sullivan and I vowed to be permanent valentines. We exchanged gifts, and I permanently gave her the name Lovebug. One year in high school I got her this HUGE gorilla and she got me this big balloon thing with confetti and a bear inside. I still remember the day we exchanged, it was so much fun. I am talking about this because four years later...a friend from way back when messaged me on facebook halfway across the world to say Happy Valentines Day to her permanent valentine! That made my day! I was so happy 😊

Along with Casey, I have had some other great Valentine's. Everyone from my parents to Tom... they have all made this day so special to me. And even though I am not as hopeless of a romantic as I used to be back in the day, I still am, if only a little bit. But then again, I think every girl is deep down, secretly hoping that there will be a dozen roses from a secret admirer at their doorstep or someone that is close to you will admit their secret feelings for you and you will live happily ever after. No women can tell me they don't think about these things if only for a moment on Valentine's Day. It's true. But today, on this Valentine's Day, even though I am "single", I am not alone. And I think that is something that a lot of girls who get so depressed on Valentine's Day forget. Look around! How many single friends do you have? Tonight I will be spending my night with my best Italy friends, my roommates. We are having a wine and cheese party and cooking ourselves a nice dinner then after we will probably watch The Lizzie McGuire Movie and eat our weight in chocolate. But the eating of chocolate is in indulgence, not depression 😊.

Oh Valentine's Day, of course I had to blog today. For those of you who know me well enough, you should have expected this. I don't have any updates, I haven't been to any new cool places that I can tell you about, and I haven't learned anything new from my last blog. Actually my life just consists of studying for my Italian midterm. Although I did play in the Umbra bball game yesterday which was awesome! But not the point, this point here is Valentine's Day. Although I have accepted that this holiday is a kind of made up holiday, at the same time what it represents, I think, is a good idea. We all get so caught up in everyday life, getting things done, planning on things to be done, and worrying about things that haven't gotten done. I think it is nice to just have a day to stop and just think about all the people who love you and care about you. And if you are lucky enough to have found someone to be in a romantic relationship with, that is something that is definitely worth dedicating a day to. Think about everyone who loves you in your life, now if you are one of those people who hates Valentine's day because you think it is just a way for businesses to make money, think about those people for a minute. Instead of thinking about the negative of today, think about how you can use this opportunity to stop and really appreciate all of the love in your life because I assure you that there are people in the world who don't have half of the love that you have. I know that Valentine's Day is filled with hearts and roses and lovey doveyness but really, if you think about it, why not just celebrate everyone in your life? Why just limit it to your significant other? Remember when you were little and you would get those little paper valentines and put candy in them and you would go around in school and give them to everyone that you even remotely liked? That's how I always think it should be. Sure there is so much commercial stuff that goes along with this =, but that is only on the surface of this holiday.

Pretty much what I am saying is today, just take a few minutes, if not the whole day to celebrate some kind of love in your life: your parents, your grandparents, your friends, your boyfriend, your wife, anyone. everyone. You won't regret it, I promise, and who knows, you might just make someone's day!

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