The Prowl: Screw Valentine's Day

Maybe it's because I've been tied up with work-related shenanigans, but I'm having a difficult time getting worked up about Valentine's Day.

Maybe it's because I'm in a profoundly cranky mood stemming from work-related shenanigans, but I'm having a hugely difficult time getting worked up this year about Valentine's Day.  It might also be that I frankly don't have a strong opinion about the day one way or the other, having thought about this at some length while trying to keep my boss focused and on time as we head from meeting to meeting.

Nevertheless, while I cannot possibly say anything remotely meaningful or even interesting about where you should take that special someone or what you should get them, as these are topics unrelated to work and thus outside the realm of things I can care about at the moment (despite probably being my milieu what with writing a weekly blog on dating/relationships), I can perhaps attempt to make the case for at least sending a card.  After all, who doesn't like mail?

When I was in college, I worked for a professor archiving the letters of a famous author.  Spending entire days reading handwritten letters, always on yellow paper with an extreme slant and written in blue felt-tipped pens, gave me a genuine appreciation for penmanship, stationery, and really correspondence generally.  There is something just very thoughtful and intimate about sending a handwritten note to another person, especially when quality paper is involved (Smythson has become my personal favorite, although not as readily available in DC as Papyrus, Crane, or the Paper Source in Georgetown).  When email is so instant and informal, taking the time to really consider your words, to me, just seems like a genuinely sweet thing to do and hugely appropriate for Valentine's Day.

To summarize, whatever else you may or may not have planned, please send someone a nice card (and if you are a Congressman this should not contain half-naked photos of yourself).  For potential help with content, I advise you to refer here.

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