Happy Valentine’s Day! See, I didn’t forget about Valentine’s Day. A man is never allowed to forget Valentine’s Day. We get so many reminders in oh so many little ways, beginning in childhood with our mothers. This morning, I saw this reminder in my inbox from Encyclopedia Britannica:

Today is Valentine’s Day, the feast day of St. Valentine, a priest and physician who was martyred about AD 270 in Rome, and the tradition of exchanging greetings of love on Valentine’s Day is based on the legend that Valentine had signed a letter to his jailer’s daughter, with whom he had fallen in love, “from your Valentine.”

I’m sure that the author/poster of this almanac entry was a woman sending every man a not so subliminal reminder. Any man in a relationship who forgets Valentine’s Day is in big trouble. Especially after all the constant reminders. But how does a holiday like Valentine’s Day begin in the first place? This holiday is based on an old legend that has somehow miraculously survived to this day to cause a lot of angst among men in relationships. How? Well, you can thank Hallmark for that! They needed another holiday for people to buy cards. ¡Voila! Hallmark resurrects St. Valentine! That’s capitalism at work rearing its ugly head. And then the florists, jewelers, and the confectionaries got in on the action, too.

But it’s not just about making money. It’s also about expressing love. And what better way to do it than with jewelry, flowers, chocolate, and Hallmark Valentine’s Day cards? Most men dread Valentine’s Day, so I wonder what happens in a relationship between two men. Do they both forget about Valentine’s Day and each one hopes that his partner doesn’t bring it up? And what about two women in a relationship? Do they both go overboard buying each other gifts?

Happy Valentine’s Day!