It’s almost Valentine’s Day. I’m sure you all know too well what that means: romance and the consumerist frenzy! So here’s the deal, I feel us as Americans and maybe we as humans have more or less lost sight of the independent concepts of love and romance. I discovered that recently when challenging a friend to tell me a romantic story. It wasn’t terrible. It was cute and funny. Not terribly romantic. Maybe I am just hard to please. That’s entirely possible.

But more to the point… Who deemed flowers and candy and gasp maybe even jewelry to be essential to romantic evenings? It may be essential to you getting laid if you’re a straight guy. We chicks can be materialistic sometimes, but really it’s silly. Love isn’t wilting beauty, shiny metals, and empty calories. It’s about learning how to make the one you love happy.

Sometimes, this is harder to learn… It’s about letting them be happy even if it isn’t with you. Like many others out there I will be alone on Saturday in a metaphorical sense. Mostly because of just how difficult it can be to figure out how to go about letting go of something you had all too briefly… or not at all.

For the record I’ll toast to you all when we open the wine and hide our secrets behind an alcohol scented haze. Be happy even if you’re alone. Remember you’re one of the lucky ones if not.

Ivy out.