You are My Funny Valentine <3

Today is the 14th of February and one of the most awaited days of the year by a lot of people all across the globe. Yes, it is Valentine's Day and a day when the roads will be massively blocked today especially in the evening and at night beause of all the people rushing to restaurants and florists and stores to have Valentine's dinner and buy presents for their loved ones. It is nice, but not something I enjoy much.

Well, I did celebrate it briefly when I started dating my now-husband. He would gift me nice presents on Valentine's Day and we'd go out for a lunch because I couldn't meet him after college hours so we settled for a Valentine's Lunch instead of a candlelight dinner. After 2 years of doing that and dating each other, we became used to seeing and loving each other haha so Valentine's Day stopped becoming a big day for us. Not just that, quite often, we'd end up fighting on all the days we wanted to be special like our birthdays, anniversaries, Eid and even the esteemed Valentine's Day. Somehow whenever we'd plan for something on a special day or occasion, it wouldn't turn out that way and we'd end up feeling glum and dismayed and lose temper quickly and have a huge fight for basically no major reason at all.

So then I decided to stop making a big deal out of birthdays and other occasions and just do nice things for each other whenever we feel like doing so. Now we have lovely date nights and long drives just when we really want to go for them and not because of a certain occasion demands us to love each other more that day. I just find that silly now. But yeah, there is one ritual I try abiding by every year on 13th of August which is my birthday- I try not to work at all and just enjoy doing things I love. That is fair right? And yeah I do wish my husband and son a Happy Birthday right at 12 on their birthdays (if my son is awake by that time) cos that puts a big smile on their faces but other than that we have fun and dinners and special things whenever we want to.

This is why when someone asks me 'What are your plans for Valentine's Day?', I'm like 'Erm, nothing really. I hate that day.' However, yesterday something happened and I started feeling less hateful towards this day. I was driving back home after dropping Faateh to school and saw a huge bunch of red and purple colored heart shaped balloons in front of me. Two guys on a motorbike were taking those balloons off to somewhere. I quickly took a photograph of that while driving. You can see it below.

When I saw so many heart shaped balloons, I started smiling and the fact that soeone is putting in so much effort to please another person just put a big smile on my face. I kept smiling for quite some time and felt quite happy for no reason at all. It was then that I realized that if a bunch of balloons made me feel happy, how happy they'd make that person who would get all these balloons so if a single day did manage to cheer someone up and make them feel special, it is not so bad after all. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am still not going to celebrate it as per say but I am not going to nurture so much hate towards it. It is alright if some people celebrate it and find it a nice day. If what works for them doesn't work for me, that doesn't mean it is not good.

That little instance just taught me once again to be more open to stuff and not put labels on things. We are all different and react/ respond differently to things so if I don't feel as giddy and excited about Valentine's Day, it doesn't make it a useless day because someone somewhere is happy today and that is a wonderful thing. I am again smiling now and feeling quite relaxed. I have also realized that a single smile has enough power to put me in good spirits quite instantly. So I'll be smiling for a few more minutes and you do let me know what you think of this piece. :) And oh before I forgot, 'Happy Valentine's Day to all those who celebrate this day and enjoy it!' <3

While I am on this page, I'd like to share this awesome video @zord189 made for all of us in particular the @steemitbloggers community to wish everyone a happy valentine's day. He is one talented and generous guy!