Black Thursday Blushes a Bit

I’ve definitely had years of my life in which I’ve dreaded February. In fact, a girlfriend and I dubbed Valentine’s Day “black (whatever the day of the week it falls on).” So this year it would be Black Thursday.

It began when she received a ridiculous stuffed frog from her then “sweetheart.” We put an end (so we thought) to the overly high expectations of the Hallmark holiday and decided to just totally blast the day with sarcastic gestures.

No red garb. We wore black. (Although I did score a red silk shirt with black hearts which became "the uniform" for the day.) We bought ourselves flowers and candy (or surprised each other with hilarious cards and dumb gifts.) We made fun of people who were gushy in love. And we competed to find the most pathetic attempts at meeting the ever so high expectation of the day.

“Oh mine wins… he called at 11:30 last night, a last ditch effort, I thought, and then chimes in with ‘oh yeah, today’s Valentine’s day… what did you want to do for that again?’”

“No listen to this, I’ve got a better one…” and so it went. Until one year, when my reality was more like a bad psycho thriller movie.

After that, we ignored the day for a while. We eased back into the humor. Since then, she’s traded the frog man for a decent model and I’ve found my own true love and had kids. It’s a softer, gentler day. Filled with more sugar and silliness than sarcasm… more love than expectation.