St. Valentine's Day

I told Shan a few years ago that I wanted to stop "observing" this day. She acquiesced and we hardly even acknowledge it when it rolls around every year. A few issues I take with the day:

1) Pried from its Catholic roots. Our culture is great about taking days with Christian significance and completely secularizing them (e.g. Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, etc.). No exception here. St. Valentine was an early Christian martyr (more here), but I'd be surprised if you heard about that at Applebee's last Saturday night.

2) Expensive. I bought a dozen roses for a girlfriend in high school on this day and I'm still paying down the interest.

3) Makes single people feel like crap. This is probably the worst part of the day. I was single for many V Days and they all sucked. Being immersed in the "jock" scene at my high school, I remember feeling this pressure to have a girlfriend at all times (well, more accurately, to "get some"); if you didn't, your manhood was put into question in the post-practice locker room.

This is something that will change with our kids. I've yet to meet a 16-year old with the maturity to have a serious relationship (or to drive, for that matter, but that's a different post) and I think removing that pressure from young people can hardly be anything but beneficial.

Shan and I have our unofficial St. Valentine's Day on October 1st, the day we met, though we usually forget about it . . . I'm going to mark it on the calendar right now.