2008 Woodie Awards
The Cosmopolitan: An Imperfect Valentine's Day
Leah Charpentier
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Editorial/Opinion
02/14/08 - Let's just all say it: the Valentine's Day aisle at CVS is gross, it just is. Grossly pink and red, grossly manufactured, grossly pathetic in its attempts at taking my money. It's just damn gross. Yet, the colorful packages and witty cards make me want to buy one of those 99 cent boxes of chocolate for my guy, just because maybe there might be something to all the hooey.
But is it all hooey? What do women want on Valentine's Day? What do men want? Women want to feel spoiled; men want to get laid, right? I think there is more to the holiday than mere consumerism for the head. It can't be that reductive.
Here is what I want for Valentine's Day.
n I want to find a card that says, "Happy Valentine's Day Mom! I love you even though you haven't been there for me through everything, and even though you've (let's face it) copped out on me one time too many. I still love you."
n I want to surprise a woman who mentored me in high school. She just had a painful knee surgery. I want to show up at her house this weekend with some flowers and bake pink cookies with her, just to share the day.
n I want my best friend to meet someone! I think she deserves a special man in her life and so I want to take her out for cocktails on Friday, just to remind her that she is fabulous, on the off-chance she had forgotten.
I really want to go out to dinner today with my fiancé and drink some nice red wine at a quiet little bistro, and think about how far we have come, and how lucky I am to have met such a wonderful, crazy guy.
Valentine's Day, I think, might be about showing love in all the uncomfortable ways we have to show it, through gritted teeth sometimes, through friendship, and through the kind of love we seldom recall, the way we care for people who take care of us, even briefly. I got lucky: I'm not single, and being single can be rough on Feb. 14, but I think even if I was, I would still have that wine. I would still spend a corner of my day thinking about who I love and who loves me, even imperfectly.
But is it all hooey? What do women want on Valentine's Day? What do men want? Women want to feel spoiled; men want to get laid, right? I think there is more to the holiday than mere consumerism for the head. It can't be that reductive.
Here is what I want for Valentine's Day.
n I want to find a card that says, "Happy Valentine's Day Mom! I love you even though you haven't been there for me through everything, and even though you've (let's face it) copped out on me one time too many. I still love you."
n I want to surprise a woman who mentored me in high school. She just had a painful knee surgery. I want to show up at her house this weekend with some flowers and bake pink cookies with her, just to share the day.
n I want my best friend to meet someone! I think she deserves a special man in her life and so I want to take her out for cocktails on Friday, just to remind her that she is fabulous, on the off-chance she had forgotten.
I really want to go out to dinner today with my fiancé and drink some nice red wine at a quiet little bistro, and think about how far we have come, and how lucky I am to have met such a wonderful, crazy guy.
Valentine's Day, I think, might be about showing love in all the uncomfortable ways we have to show it, through gritted teeth sometimes, through friendship, and through the kind of love we seldom recall, the way we care for people who take care of us, even briefly. I got lucky: I'm not single, and being single can be rough on Feb. 14, but I think even if I was, I would still have that wine. I would still spend a corner of my day thinking about who I love and who loves me, even imperfectly.