We all remember when we were in elementary school and our parents would take us to the nearest corner store to pick out those folded Valentine’s Day cards to hand out to our friends.
I would choose either the Spongebob-themed ones or something containing a bunch of hearts. We’d spend the whole day before writing special notes to each classmate and add a nice heart-shaped lollypop to top it off.
For some of us, that was the first time we were exposed to Valentine’s Day. For others, this might be a small appreciation of love they would receive years down the road.
As we’ve gotten older, we started to prioritize the romance aspect of the holiday.
Almost everyone has had that bad Valentine’s Day experience where the person they had a crush on didn’t show the same feelings when they handed their potential partner a gift and the other person was empty-handed.
On social media, couples can be seen wrapped in each other’s arms, showing off the gifts their boyfriend or girlfriend got them on Feb. 14. People who are single during this time may feel that the holiday is unnecessary. Most may say, “What am I celebrating? I’m single. It’s not really a single people holiday.”
Throughout the years, the practice of spending Valentine’s Day alone has started to fade. Single women decided to take matters into their own hands and create “Galentine’s Day.”
Every year, single women would come together to celebrate amongst themselves. This means dressing up in pink and red, cooking a nice brunch and sharing love amongst your friends. It gave people the opportunity to feel appreciated without having to be in a relationship.
But what is the real meaning of Valentine’s Day?
Some men may say they don’t need one day to show how much they care for their women.
“Gifts and that expression of love should be given every day, without it being a special holiday,” TreVuan Jeffries, a student at Georgia State, said.
Others were born into celebrating this holiday. Parents would shower their children with gifts to make sure they felt loved on the special day.
“They’d give me flowers, chocolates, teddy bears, and little gifts. They still do this now as a full adult,” Ayanna Martinez, a graduate journalism student at USC, said.
Valentine’s Day could be the one day that special someone shows you how much they appreciate you or it could be a day filled with love from family and friends.
Either way, the holiday has expanded over the years. It isn’t just about the romance of it all.
As we’re approaching Feb. 14, think back to the grade school days when we didn’t fully understand what Valentine’s Day was and all we looked forward to was getting heart-shaped candy and nice notes from our friends.
This article is part of a special column series for Valentine’s Day 2022 and was created in Prof. Miki Turner’s JOUR 431: Feature Writing course. Visit the Valentine’s Wishes page to view more perspectives on the holiday of love (or lack thereof).