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2.13.2011

Happy Freakin’ February 14th


Wow, so I had this nerdy joke all lined up for weeks about how the most important thing about this Feb 14th was that they were going to start filming The Hobbit.  But then Peter Jackson had to go and get sick so they pushed it back to March, so there goes my punchline.  So instead, I searched for geeky Valentine’s Day jokes, and sadly, this was the best I came up with:

An electron is out a courting an atom and keeps flying around the atom to get its attention. Exasperated from all the attention, the atom asks, "Why do you persist in running these circles around me?" The electron replies, "I'm strangely attracted to you."

And then there was this:

Roses reflect a light frequency at one end of the visible electromagnetic spectrum,
Violets reflect a light frequency at the other end of the visible electromagnetic spectrum,
Sugar is C12H22O11,
And you release the endorphins in my brain.

But seriously.   I know it seems like every year at Valentine ’s Day I do a little rant about singleness and how much Valentine’s Day sucks.  Usually this is the point where I make some kind of speech about how I LOVE my singleness and I’m doing great and I’m content with where God has me.  While all that is true about 70% of the time, I must confess there is another side to all that, even though I don’t usually like talking about it.

Now, I’m a sap, but I’m also kind of a cynic at times, so I’m well aware that coupledom and & marriage do not equal a lifetime of bliss and a shiny, conflict-free future.  So hear me when I say that I do not think being in a relationship would fix my problems or make everything better.  It’s not that.  It’s just that…well, I’m a sap.  Always have been.  I’ve been dreaming of love since I was a wee thing—even when I thought boys were gross, I still sort of expected to find one I’d like someday.

I already have a hard enough time with my sentimental, mushy tendencies the other eleven months of the year.  Forgive me for sounding just a tiny bit whiny here, but then Valentine’s Day comes along and amplifies the whole damn thing.  I hate coming across bitter or desperate.  I’m really not.

It’s just…I have this idea in my head, you know?  That someday there will be a guy who will…see me.  And not just glance at my externals, measuring me against the current ingrained ideas of beauty and perfection.  Really see me.  Take a second look and find the beauty the goes below skin depth.  And he’ll take a moment to get to know me a little better.  Find out what common interests we have, what deep beliefs and convictions we share.  We’d become friends, laugh over things, share meals and drinks and our lives.  And if it were a story I was writing, the key part would be the moment when he’d take the step of going beyond friendship, of pursuing something more with me.  And not halfheartedly, but with a passion that would make all this waiting I’m currently doing worth it.

Some days I have a really hard time believing in such a scenario.  I see it unfolding in other people’s lives, but for me it seems so remote.  Other days I have to believe it, or I’d probably despair.  And whatever happens, I don’t want to turn into a bitter spinster.  I know God has a plan for me and has kept me on this path for a reason (though I have no idea what it is).

So this Valentine’s Day, though I may roll my eyes at the garishness & commercialization of it all, I will not let cynicism have the final word.  This year, I will choose to keep my hopes up and to believe love is real and romance is out there…I just haven’t found it yet.

And so for you, whoever you are, wherever you are, despite whatever is taking you so long, this song is for you.


To everyone else:
If you’re with someone you love, forget all that mushy frilly crap and focus on the reality that you’ve found someone worth sharing your life with.  That alone should make V day worth celebrating even in the simplest, smallest ways.

If like me, you’re single, let's band together against despair.  We’ll have our day.  Until then, this one’s for us—not geeky, not all “single power,” but sort of an honest prayer sung by gleeks:


And Happy Freakin’ February 14th!