Here it is: the one holiday that sends single ladies to their couches as they pop in The Notebook screaming to Noah Calhoun to build them a porch, followed by a Mount Everest of tissues. It’s also the one holiday that sends couples reeling to the tippy-top of their relationship peak.
Everyone, welcome to Valentine’s Day, full of candy hearts and fluffy bears. It seems impossible not to feel the love in the air. But how do the singles and couples plan to spend their Valentine’s Day? It’s time to open up a box of chocolates and see what’s inside.
First, one must address that it is already half way through February. Secondly, one must realize that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. We can officially conclude that the month of February is going by fast. Since tomorrow is the big day of love, break out the candy hearts, get out the freshly cut roses and summon all the chocolate lovers! There is about to be an overload of sweets a’comin’.
Despite all of the decadent treats and sweet kisses of Valentine’s Day, how do people go about planning and spending their day of love, regardless if they are single or in a relationship? Does everyone on this jam-packed love fest of a day get a teddy bear with “Be Mine” stitched on the belly?
Maybe if they were giving them away for free.
We can wish, right?
There are a lot of stigmas that center around Valentine’s Day. For people who are representing the single life for this holiday, people tend to assume that they will sit at home on their couches and complain how they will forever be alone. That’s right; I’m talking to every girl who says she will be a cat lady.
The singles will often feel excluded from the celebration just because they have no one else to proclaim love to. According to www.gettysburg.edu, a Gettysburg College professor of sociology and women’s studies, Jean Potuchek, explains how singleness is often looked at as failure for women, especially on Valentine’s Day.
“If many of these women find that singleness is often difficult, it is not because they find their daily experiences of single life difficult, but because other people’s reactions to or assumptions about their lives are so difficult to deal with,” Potuchek said.
Single women seeing people engage in PDA or public displays of affection can definitely affect their Valentine spirit. For sophomore Jessica Costello, it is pointless to even have the holiday at all.
“I just don’t see why you need one specific day to express how much you love someone when you should be doing it everyday,” Costello said.
However, women who do want to celebrate find comfort around other women who are single as well. Single people who have single friends all meet together and celebrate with each other. It is a much better, and positive, way to go about spending Valentine’s Day.
Let us not forget about the stigmas of people who are coupled off.
However, as many stigmas as there are for the singles, there are just as many for the couples. Valentine’s Day for couples is the one day they can whisper “I love you” in the ears of their beloved.
According to www.stvalentinesday.org, that is the proper way to start the day off. “The romantic gesture is usually accompanied with an exchange of red roses, chocolates, cards and other gifts,” the website explained.
It is the traditional lovey-dovey way to spend Valentine’s Day.
And yet, as for the students and faculty of the University, they have other plans in mind for this year’s Valentine’s Day.
For students who are going to spend their Valentine’s Day on the single side of the relationship spectrum, they may be found going to the movies, attending their late classes, and working in the Residential Halls.
Senior Tara Cooney will be seeing a brand new film starring Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough. She has a very quirky and refreshing attitude about how she is going to spend Valentine’s Day.
“I am going to be going to the movies alone to see Safe Haven and indulge in popcorn, and if any hot men want to meet me there, this is your invitation,” Cooney said.
Some students who cannot attend the movies are simply in class. Brian Boehler, senior, is keeping his Valentine’s Day academic only.
“I have two classes at night, so I won’t be doing anything,” Boehler said.
However, junior Ashley Pacifico is not letting work get in the way of spreading the love to other people. Pacifico will be on duty in Cedar Hall on the holiday, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be celebrating in her own special way.
“I’ll be holding down the fort, and I plan giving valentines to my residents in Cedar,” Pacifico said.
As for the couples at the University, some treat it as any other day, and others really want to make some pancakes.
Pancakes, you ask?
Yes.
For senior Christopher Down, he wants to spend his Valentine’s Day with his girlfriend… and pancakes. Well, not just pancakes.
“I’m going to spend it with romance, chocolate strawberries, wine and pancakes,” Down said.
It’s a new spin on an old tradition on how to spend the holiday.
Professor of communication, Donna Dolphin, doesn’t stress over Valentine’s Day.
“I don’t pay much attention to the holiday, and it sneaks up on me. I’ve been married to a great guy for a long time, and we try to appreciate each other all the time,” Dolphin said.
So what is the big, bolded and underlined, sealed with a kiss, point of Valentine’s Day? Valentine’s Day is for celebrating love, on a very wide range.
If you’re single, you can spread your love to your friends and family or hey, maybe even some good food. You can catch the premiere of a highly talked about movie or even give out some homemade valentines to people close to you.
If you’re in a relationship, share it with a special someone who you’ve been with for a long time or make that special someone of yours pancakes. Who knows, maybe pancakes will be the new chocolate.
IMAGE TAKEN from gallery-pic.com
