Last week, one of my single friends posted a message on Facebook inviting all of her single friends to a Valentine’s Day party on Friday night. But it wasn’t a mixer for hopeful singles to meet other hopeful singles; no, it was specifically for her female friends who haven’t yet found love to commiserate about what bastards men are and how much they hate their romantic lives, or lack thereof.

I felt sorry for her, for just a moment. She’s a very sweet person, attractive, and with much to offer to the right guy. But I really thought that the stereotypical bitter “men are pigs” attitude was beneath her. Because it apparently is not, on Tuesday afternoon I toyed with the idea of posting a comment on her invitation:

“That reminds me: I need to order flowers to be sent to Jill at work! Thanks!”

(I did have flowers sent to Jill at work, and I hadn’t forgotten; I like that sort of ostentatious display of romance not because I feel I need to compensate for a lack of passion in our relationship, but mostly because that type of sweetness appears to be lacking in society, at least from where I’m sitting. Besides, I love her and I want the whole world to know.)

In the end, I didn’t post the comment on my friend’s Facebook page. Perhaps it would have been rude or mean to rub in the faces of my friend and her friends my utter joy on Valentine’s Day, but I don’t refrain from doing it the rest of the year so she probably would’ve understood, or even appreciated my little dig. Perhaps it would have been noble to show her that there are good men out there, men who won’t cheat or play mind games, and not to give up hope. In the end I decided not to post my comment for the sole reason that Jill is also friends with this person, and would’ve been able to read the comment. And although I’ve not yet missed a Valentine’s Day or birthday since we met, I know my wife is not the sort to become complacent and expect such a thing. Everytime I send her flowers at work I immediately get an appreciative, gushing phone call expressing not only her love for me, but also some of the naughty things she plans to do to me as soon as we see each other; and that’s why the tradition continues.

If you’re fortunate enough to have found someone special, Jill and I wish you the happiest of Valentine’s Days, but warn you not to use this day as an excuse to forget about love and romance the rest of the year. If you are alone today, enjoy Singles Awareness Day (ironically, SAD), and take solace in the fact that you don’t have to spend heaps of money on flowers, dinner, chocolates and whatnot; or take part in crass commercialism of the type formerly reserved for Christmas.

-Jack