My Favorite Valentine's Tradition

I've never been a big fan of Valentine's Days. I wasn't even a big fan of the Valentine's parties at school because I didn't mind lessons so the free time wasn't much to me, though the candy was good. I spent hours the night before such a party going through my box of perforated, character-themed Valentine's cards, organizing and selecting card messages for specific people and simply assigning the rest, addressing the envelopes, sealing them, only to get back a box full of nothing special from my classmates. In high school, I would pass the office on my way to various classes and watch as florists would arrive throughout the day bringing in large and showy bouquets and knew none of them were for me. Occasionally, my mom was nice enough to buy me a small, heart-shaped box of chocolates, but these have been my only Valentine's day gift, even to present. So, for many years, Valentine's Day has been nothing but a holiday propagated by florists, card-makers, and restaurateurs.

In college, however, was likely the best time I ever had on a Valentine's Day, and not because I enjoyed lots of wonderful dates and romantic evenings, but rather the lack there of. In college, all of my friends were single. None of us dated, few of us had romantic interests or crushes. Which, of course, freed us up for a lot of great together-time. My friends Lori Jones and Kala (Yoder) Long began a wonderful Valentine's "tradition" that was less celebrated than joked about.

The year they roomed together, Lori and Kala decided to decorate and celebrate Valentine's Day in a most original fashion. They covered their walls and the door to their dorm room in black construction paper hearts, and the melancholy notes of Simon and Garfunkel's "I Am an Island" emanated from their door. They declared through their [subversive] Valentine's celebration that they didn't need "no stinkin' men". They were perfectly fine without, thank you; after all, "an island never cries." It was the funniest thing thing I'd seen and I admit a little shame-facedly that I totally crashed the party.

Since that time there have been no repeat performances of the Black-Heart Party, but Kala did sing the theme song to Lori once on the phone. However, it has become a famous joke amongst our circle, and a time or two I had considered decorating my own room in similar fashion. These are my fondest memories of Valentine's Day, the Anti-Valentine's movement.