So, there are a lot of things I don’t like about Valentine’s Day. For example, where our roses and diamonds come from. But less urgent, and closer to home, here’s something else I don’t like about Valentine’s Day: it tries to divide people up into two neat categories. (1) People who are madly in love and happy. (2) People who are single, sad, and pathetic.

C’mon! That’s so reductive! There are a bajillion kinds of people; there are a bajillion ways to live; there isn’t one good, happy way to be and one bad, sad way to be — COME ON!

This is why I’m renaming February 14th Interplanetary Be Who You Are Day. Here are some identities in which there is NO SHAME on that day (or on any other day!):

1. A person who is thinking about getting a divorce but isn’t sure.
2. A person who has decided to have a cat and begonias instead of a husband and kids even though it will disappoint her mother.
3. A person who has decided to move to Massachusetts and marry his boyfriend even though it will anger his father.
4. A person who is holding the hand of her lover who is about to have sex reassignment surgery.
5. A person who is in the 53rd year of a relationship that has been totally worth the commitment.
6. A person who is in the 53rd year of a relationship that has NOT been worth the commitment. (This may be the same person as person #1, I’m not sure.)
7. A person who is in love with the art of canned food sculpture.
8. A person with a broken heart who is sobbing.
9. A person who feels that just because a relationship ended, that doesn’t mean it failed.
10. A person who is simply too tired to care about Valentine’s Day because her twin toddlers are sticking macaroni up their noses AGAIN.
11. A person who loves Valentine’s Day, wears pink, has heart socks, loves being in love, and sends everyone valentines. (Ahem. Cordelia.)
12. A person who doesn’t know what she wants or how she feels, and possibly never will.
13. A person who’s in love with more than one person.
14. A person who thinks he’ll never find anyone who understands him.
15. A single parent who is contentedly spending Valentine’s Day with his children.
16. A person who’s stunned to realize she’s fallen back in love with that bozo. Maybe he isn’t a bozo after all. The jury’s still out.
17. A person who is both naughty and nice.
18. A person who lives on the International Space Station, where the very idea of romance pales in comparison to being able to look out the window at the entire earth.
19. An alien crossing the galaxy in her spaceship in pursuit of her one true love who has been kidnapped by her archenemy, Kryzxsdf9i5555++++++ (loose transliteration).
20. Me.
21. You.

Who did I miss?

Here’s a short video, all about love. Watch with tissues on hand. (Props to my friend and fellow writer, Tui Sutherland, who blogged it first! Thanks, Tui!)

“Fidelity”: Don’t Divorce… from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Here’s where you can sign a letter to the state Supreme Court of California, asking them to invalidate Proposition 8, reject Ken Starr’s case, and allow loving, committed couples to marry. Please note that you must do so by February 14 for your signature to count! [EDIT 2/13/09: The deadline has now been extended to March 2!]

Here’s a link to Fairly Traded flowers.

Here’s one with tips for how to avoid conflict diamonds.

(Here’s me hoping I’m not being too preachy today.)

Happy Interplanetary Be Who You Are Day, everyone! :o)