What is love?

I was happily reading through my news articles when it struck me.
So many articles on Valentine's Day.
Is it coming soon?
Well, I'll be.
It's bloody tomorrow!

I haven't "celebrated" Valentine's day in over a decade. As a matter of fact, one year I was so harried with a project and the girl who was supposed to be Team Leader screwed up so badly, repeatedly, that I was mad enough to sit her down with me and go through the data. A report was due the VERY next day to a VERY important client. She finally left the office at 10PM.

I stayed back a lot longer to clean up her doodoo. Remember feeling a bit bad because her date was ruined. But the irony of it was when she finally left the firm, she gifted me with a thank you present for "teaching her so much". Yeah right.

But I digress.

Valentine's Day.

I've never felt lonely on VDay. Oh, when I was much younger, yes it was a big thing. But when my then partner and I were together, I realised it didn't really feel.... right. Too much money spent on things that we could've done or bought on any other occasion. Too forced, too commercial. Where was the softness that made love special?

You know the most romantic thing I recall from that particular relationship? It wasn't the gifts or flowers or whatever. It was a little home-packed picnic by the beach in the evening, complete with my own tablecloth, candles. We sat out on the breakwater, in our own little private world, surrounded by candles which flickered to become a little wall against the outside world. We sat and talked. There was even a shooting star, which made the night perfect. The only time I'd very seen one.

A perfect Hallmark moment. On a normal weekend. On a normal budget.

Why does love have to be bought? Why do people feel obliged to celebrate a day which actually has it's origins in unrequited love? I'm buggered by how customes and traditions evolve over time.

It started out as, literally, as a smuggled love note. That's what a Valentine was. Now it's love for anyone... your class- or work-mates; family, friends. Not only cards but gifts, flowers, tokens. And pushed by smart advertising people who know when to make a killing.

Love doesn't need money. Or grand extravagant gestures.
It needs communication.
It needs to be fed.
It needs to be felt.
It needs to be seen.


And it needs to be done continuously. Not just on one day.