Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Feb 11, 2007

Thinking Out Loud: A preponderance of pink

As I walked into Safeway a few days ago, all I could see was pink and red. Too much pink in one place, I thought. I’m not terribly fond of the color outside roses, and it was almost overwhelming.

Tonight, the display of balloons and baskets and chocolate goodies was decimated, looking as though somebody drove a van through it. I guess, just as with Christmas, the romantic wait until the last minute.

And tomorrow, the candy will be half price and the balloons all deflated. Pink will be replaced by the green of St. Paddy’s, and the pastel colors of Easter.

Still, I’m not too inclined to complain. There was a time when I might’ve looked upon it with more cynicism, but not now, I think. As I get older, I guess it becomes apparent what’s worth fussing over and what is not. Because it doesn’t matter, does it? Valentine’s Day is, at its core, a celebration of love, and friendship. It’s a synthetic holiday, commercialized like so many others, but if you’ll pardon a deliberate pun, it’s got its heart in the right place.

I received my first Valentine’s Day card when I was sixteen. I didn’t actually know the boy in question was even interested. We’d been friends, and he, being as interested in fashion and image as I, the nerd (or in British parlance, the “swot”) was not, was considering me. We really would not have been a good couple, living in such different worlds, but it was still nice. Intensely embarrassing…but nice.

Over the years, I haven’t really had that many cards, and I have no outstanding memories of the day. Overall, I haven’t seemed to pick particularly romantic men, and as such haven’t had particularly romantic experiences. I have a romantic streak, but it isn’t the be-all and end-all of my existence. From time to time, though, I’d get cards from my penpals in America, which was about the first time I realized that over here it was a much bigger deal than over there, and that it extended outwards to friends and family as well. The Americans, I think, are a lot less shy about telling people that they love them than are the British.

I’ve gone through quite a gamut of thoughts about the holiday, including a mid-twenties smartypants stage of sneering and denouncement, thinking that it’s silly and pointless and a Hallmark Holiday engineered to sell pink stuff. I’ve ignored it entirely (trendy at the time, like all trends) and I’ve spent the evening figuring out things to do and things that need talking about and improving, using it as a kind of springboard for Relationship Development (I have no name for this variant other than :: rolls eyes ::) But mostly, I’ve come to accept that it’s a bit of fun, a single day where no matter what, it’s okay to acknowledge love and affection. If it makes it okay, even for one day, for a couple to show themselves that kind of affection and attention, bring on the pink stuff. Really.

This morning I deposited the contents of a dollar-store package of heart-shaped candy in various places around the house. Not only did my husband have fun finding all the locations–he especially seemed to like the one that fell out of his sock–but he had equal fun re-hiding them to fall out of my helmet, on my keyboard, etc. As I write, I’m full of chocolate and curry, a winning combination if I ever heard of one. And in order to obtain said items, we got to go on a cool night ride with lots of dancing in and out of traffic. We passed the occasional car with balloons attached to the rear, and there seemed to be a festive air all around.

Romance, and love, takes a lot of forms. Valentine’s Day gives it an outlet. For my part, I hope that chocolates fell out of your socks, and that whatever you had for dinner was yummy.