As holidays go, Valentine's Day peaks when you're 9-years-old, pounding conversation hearts and sitting anxiously at your desk with a Kleenex "mailbox" decorated with construction paper hearts and crudely dawn cupids. As life goes on, the candy definitely gets better, but the pressure to do, say, and buy the right things on Valentine's Day gets a lot trickier when you can't rely on four versions of Pepé Le Pew to do all the talking.You have to ask yourself harder questions about your relationships, like, "Are we at a gorilla stuffed animal holding a rose status, or are we just CVS brand assorted truffles?" On a day when you're more likely to get it wrong than get it right, try getting back to basics with a simple, thoughtful valentine that says all the things you're not sure how to say.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Katie Hoffman is a writer living in the suburbs of Chicago. She enjoys leftovers, lunges, and laughs.
