Valentine's Day Stinks

I've never really been into the whole hearts and flowers thing of Valentine's day. I'm not sure why, but receiving fluffy gifts like that makes me feel awkward and uneasy (maybe because I never feel the urge to get things like that for anyone else). So anyway, I'd like to recount my top 3 (anti-)Valentines Day Stories.

1. Valentine's Day, 2001. I was working at a grocery store and one of my coworkers asked me out on a date. I told him cool - let's do lunch. A few days later, on V-day, I show up at work and there are a dozen RED long-stemmed roses for me that had been delivered earlier. I was totally creeped out about it since he hadn't even called me yet to set up that lunch date and I thought it was a bit too forward of a gesture to spend 80 bucks in flowers on a girl you don't really know! After work I took them home and divvied up the flowers between my mom and one of my best girl friends.

2. Valentine's Day, 2001; pt. 2. I had just started casually dating the guy who would become my future ex-husband (wow, cool). He lived out-of-state at the time and so I went to go visit him a couple days after Valentine's Day. The holiday hadn't even been on my mind anymore, but when I arrived he had a huge stuffed teddy bear and a giant heart-shaped balloon for me. I gritted my teeth and said thanks; secretly, I was horrified.

3. Valentine's Day, 2007. It was just two weeks after I had split up with my husband and I was kinda dating a friend that I knew from college. I specifically told him NOT to get me anything - no flowers, no cards, no candy. And yet what do you think he went and did? Flowers, a card, and I think he even made breakfast for me. It freaked me out and I made sure that I made plans with someone who was just a friend for an anti-V-day date that evening instead of the guy who wouldn't listen about NOT getting me sappy gifts.

So anyway, I'm sure I probably shouldn't be so cynical about this holiday, but I just kind of think that people should be expressing their love to those closest to them on a regular basis. Why do we need a holiday to tell us that hearts and flowers are mandatory? All I ever really want on Valentine's Day is maybe a nice quiet dinner with my significant other and, ahem, perhaps a good lay. ;)