By Crystal Olague || Staff Writer

Let’s talk about Valentine’s Day. A day of love, joy, and happiness. It is a beautiful day to celebrate all the relationships you cherish and the fact that there is so much love in our lives. Most people only focus on romantic love, and while we are starting to recognize the importance of other forms of love in our lives, I think this is a day to just accept and enjoy the fact that we can love others at all.

My entire life, I’ve never had an actual valentine. It has always made me feel a sort of way because I would love to have someone to celebrate and shower with love, but I never got the chance. I used to be really sad about it and would hate the holiday because it just reminded me of something I had never, and still haven’t, experienced. This made me a bitter person in the past during this time, and looking back, I hate that. I hate the fact that I let my lack of experience ruin an entire day for me every year, instead of simply enjoying the holiday with the people around me. I think it’s safe to say that many people feel this way and it’s important to know that you are not the only one feeling like this, I always thought I was alone, but that’s not true. Love comes in so many forms. 

Love is in the way you greet people. The way you smile when talking to your friends. The way you giggle when sending a text to someone. The way you wait to walk home with someone because it’s dark outside. The way you share an orange with someone and give them every other piece. It’s the peaceful silence you can have with someone, knowing that you are content with them without even needing to speak to them. Love is all around us, you just haven’t realized it. Love is in everything. 

I know some people say not to romanticize everything, but I think you should. Make a big deal about walking through a pretty garden. Take pictures of the sunset and moon every chance you get. Bask in the sun and smile for being able to have this experience. Fill your life with love, otherwise, you will only focus on the negatives and forget about everything else around you. It can be hard not finding your person and having to watch everyone celebrate their person on this day, but there is so much more that you have. You just need to accept and realize it. Make the day all about you, go out and take yourself to dinner. Dress up and take pictures that make you smile. Watch romcoms and cry about the love in the movies. Treat yourself to a wonderful day and you’ll slowly start loving this day even more. With that being said, I hope you all had a good Valentine’s Day, and I love you all.

Crystal Olague ‘24 is a Staff Writer. Her email is colague@fandm.edu.

By TCR