dark clouds on the horizon

There is one more week until the day that I plan to ignore arrives. Yes, Valentine's Day is one short week away. You may be asking yourself, "How can she be ignoring the day if she's recognizing the fact that it's one week away?" That is a good question, but it has a good answer, too. Like I mentioned in one of my posts about Valentine's Day last year (yes, I did go back to read them), it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE to ignore the day completely because we are bombarded with all the consumerist images of what love is supposed to look like. It's just plain inescapable. I guess that's good for all the girlfriends out there whose boyfriends may not ever look at a calendar, but for your average single girl like me, it sucks the big one. Lemme tall ya.

This year, I'm planning on taking a similar tack as I did last year. I'm going to spend the evening with a bunch of my girl friends and forget about boys all together. My friend A is hosting a dinner at her place, for girls only, and I think it will be a good time. My friend T is also hosting an Un-Valentine's potluck, but A invited me first, so that's where I'm going. Sorry, T! (T & A, ha ha! Oh, brother.) Now, whether either of these events would be more gratifying than sitting at home watching movies and eating ice cream with the cat is another story. See, the cat really loves ice cream ...

But anyway, this year I have no illusions. I think that the little part of me that secretly hopes for MOMD (Man of My Dreams, for those of you who were not paying attention in class) to suddenly appear and sweep me off my feet has shrunk just a little bit. Not that I don't always have a little bit of hope (see, this is why I need to go back and read my New Year's post now and then), I think maybe I've just been a little hardened by some past experiences. I know for certain that MOMD is not going to show up a) because he does not exist, and b) because I'm not that lucky. I'm not going to wear black out of protest, like I have done in years past, but I won't be wearing any red and pink sweaters with frilly appliqueed hearts on them either. I'm just going to calmly coast through the day, and then meet my friends for dinner that night. That's the plan.

Valentine's Day? What's that? This is just Wednesday.