Her Grace, The Duchess of Cupcakes – How and Why I Love Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day. Two words that strike joy, fear, hatred, giddiness, bitterness, or joviality into the heart-shaped-hearts of people everywhere. It seems like there are always two camps: those that like Valentine’s Day, and those that despise it with the fury of a thousand angry prairie dogs.

I think many see it as a day of “have” or “have not,” a day that will either be spent with someone, or spent alone. Others see it as a day manufactured by greeting card companies to guilt us all into buying cards, flowers, and chocolates.

But take a moment to consider – we have holidays that celebrate the birth of Jesus, the resurrection of Jesus, American independence, the turning of the new year, the passing and returning of souls, the patron saint of Ireland, dead presidents, etc., etc…and LOVE.

Valentine’s Day is the celebration of LOVE, whether you have someone or don’t, whether you’re going out to an expensive dinner or not, whether you get cards and flowers or not. Love is a beautiful thing to celebrate. Just imagine the world without it! With all the madness, suffering, aggression, and hostility of people (on a world scale or in your every day commute!), we ought to be darn thankful for Love.

I gave up feeling bad about Valentine’s Day years ago, and instead decided to just enjoy the day. I enjoyed the day so much I started celebrating a WEEK of Valentine’s, by wearing my favorite pink dress (or making one for the occasion), indulging in some of those chocolates (that are, by the way, NOT reserved for people in relationships!), and buying myself flowers to enjoy all week long. Occasionally ardent boys would give me valentines, shaking and sheepishly smiling as they handed them over. However, despite any bouquets or heart-shaped candles I may have received over the years, the best valentine I ever got was an orange. That’s right, it was an orange, a HUGE first-of-the-season navel orange upon which a very good, dear friend of mine, with whom I was NOT romantically involved, had written “Happy Valentine’s Day” in sharpie marker. I believe he had intended to eat this orange for his own snack, but as we sat there in our morning class, he felt compelled to give it to me, instead, and it was quite possibly one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.

This year I have not been able to celebrate Valentine’s Week. Circumstances have me housebound and I’m unable to travel for dances, and I seldom go anywhere to wear a pink dress – not to mention it’s VERY cold outside. I’ve decided to celebrate in my own little domestic way by baking cupcakes. They happen to be pink with white frosting and sprinkles and win. How many of these cupcakes will survive to Valentine’s Day (tomorrow)? No telling….but I do plan to share at least a couple with my sweetie 🙂

My cupcakes, in all their glory!

So remember, ladies, Valentine’s is about Love, about the existence of love, the joy of it, and that we have it in our lives. It is also about feeling good about yourself, and achieving that in any way you see fit – go to a spa (or make your own with some candles and bubblebath), wear pink eyelet dresses, make a new costume for a dance, or spend the evening singing to Ingrid Michaelson’s “Everybody” and baking cupcakes! <3