Happy SPA Day

One of the girls on my favorite messageboard wished us "no man, no cry" gals a Happy SPA Day today -- Single Person's Awareness Day.

Now I particularly liked this acronym; as a matter of fact, one of my plans for tonight is to treat myself to a few extra special beauty treatments -- soak my feet, mask my face, etc. Just to be extra good to myself and enjoy the person I love most.

V-Day is sometimes tough on those of us without a steady. But quite honestly, my worst V-Day ever was about a dozen years ago. I was in a relationship, and it had been a godawful weekend. My emotions were on edge, and some things had occurred to just make the whole V-Day worse. On top of all that stress, I had to go to a baby shower that night. Now, for whatever strange reason, my clock was ticking like a time bomb in my 20s; my 30s, hardly a peep. A baby shower was the last thing I needed that day -- but I had promised.

It was awful. I got to the shower and all the women were talking about their presents. I burst into tears. One of the other guests, whom I did not know from Eve, pulled me aside to offer words of strength and comfort that I have never forgotten: "Hunny, Valentine's Day is a complete crock."

She continued, "It's a beautiful day to express love, but I want my husband to tell me on the other 364 days too -- not because some industry tells him he HAS to today. It's a plot to get more money out of people, and it's a shame. So perk up and spend your time and money on yourself. And besides, if he's causing you to cry this much, is he worth it?"

I paid attention to all but that last sentence (the one I should have paid the most attention to). But she was right. I'd rather have someone I love tell me he loves me or give me roses or chocolates or highly-compressed pieces of carbon on April 22 or June 13 or even November 30 than feeling as if he HAS to do it on February 14.

So in honor of SPA day, I am signing off to go pamper myself.