What is Valentine’s Day? 💌

I attended a single sex boarding school which means we were all girls but that didn’t stop us from making the most of Valentine’s Day.

I remember I used to get a lot of Valentine cards from my friends and they were all handmade cards cause we weren’t allowed to leave school

Some of us would make several cards to give to our friends on Valentine’s Day. It felt special knowing someone had taken the time to make something for you.

One of my favorite memory of Valentine’s Day was in 2018. In our class, we wrote everyone’s names in papers, squeezed them and shuffled them then everyone had to pick a paper and basically you had to do something for the person you chose.

One of my classmates, Sharon picked me. Honestly I didn’t expect more than a card cause like I said, we didn’t have money, we couldn’t leave school and we weren’t allowed to have provisions or snacks asides the ones given to us in school.

That night, I had just finished dinner and made my way to class for night study prep. I met my desk decorated with cute red petals (if I can remember clearly) and she wrote a cute message and then there was a bowl of milo crunchies in the centre. The reason this is so special to me is that milo crunchies, at that time, was a rare cereal. Everyone wanted it but we were only given once a week and one serving was never enough so the fact that she had sacrificed a couple of her servings and saved them and then gifted them to me was so heartwarming. I can never forget how happy and touched I felt that night.

I was randomly thinking about how much Valentine’s Day has been taken out of context these recent years and decided to share this story.

You see people on social media grumble about not having a “special someone” to celebrate Valentine’s with or memes making single people feel left out for not having a romantic partner to sweep them off their feet or give them flowers.

First of all, you know the way to the flower shop. Go get yourself flowers. Why are you waiting for a man to give them to you?

Also, since when has Valentine’s been solely about romantic dates and trips?

That is only a part of it.

Valentine’s season is a season of LOVE and love does not fall under just one category. Love is a spectrum.

Surprising your girlfriend to a romantic trip to Paris is a way of showing love but also is making heartfelt cards for your friends and baking cookies to give to kids at orphanages.

It’s sad to see that we’re slowly starting to forget what Valentine’s should really be about and we’re just fixated on one aspect of it.

If you don’t have a significant partner, then celebrate with your bestfriends, if you don’t have friends, take yourself out, spoil yourself, eat something nice, watch a movie, buy a new dress. It’s the season of love and the first person you should be showing love to is yourself and then others.

You also don’t have to show love to your immediate friends and family, show love to strangers. Give them a good tip, hold the door for someone, give your change to someone who needs it and let them know you’re showing love to them cause it’s Valentine’s so that in subsequent years, when they think of Valentine’s Day, you’ll be a fond memory they can smile at.

Happy Valentine’s Day in advance my loves !❤️

What’s your favorite memory of Valentine’s Day? Also, any plans this year?

• WordPress