Valentines Day isn't for everyone.
I get it, Valentine's day is the most made up holiday of them all. I've always hated celebrating it. Even in relationships it always seemed forced. The real trick is to just celebrate the day after. Everything is on sale, the restaurants are empty, you can save some serious cash. That is assuming that your significant other is ok with your frugal spending habits. As I got older I realized how great being single on Valentines Day is. I save money, I avoid people, and there's nobody to let down because you got them the wrong flowers (also the Tinder game is strong leading up to and after). So, for this blog post, I celebrate the joys of being single on Valentines Day and the true MVPs of the single person on February 14th.
I've spent a handful of deployments in the sandbox on Valentines Day, sending expensive flowers to some girl who, to be honest, was "Deer Huntering" me. Instead of dinner and wine with some dependa, it was Rip Its and MREs with my Deployment Hub. For those of you that don't know, external hard drives are a crucial morale booster on deployments. Show up with an empty one and you'll leave with more music and movies than you know what to do with. My hard drive after my 2009 deployment looked like the rainbow coalition of pornography. I didn't even know there were that many genres out there. That trusty hard drive has gotten me through many deployments, and been more reliable than any of my ex-wives.
For those not deployed, February 14th is a great night for pizza and P-Hub. Maybe explore beyond that first page, go deep into the bowels of the "recommended for you" category. Finally press next on that oh so familiar tab on the bottom of the page. Really explore that "me time" you're always talking about. We don't judge.
With Valentines Day landing in winter every year, dry skin can be a real bitch. If you do land a date, don't show up with your skin looking like the paw pads of a 14-year-old chocolate lab. Nobody knows the struggle of dry skin better than Buffalo Bill, which is exactly why you should entrust the "Buffalo Bill's Brand Skin Lotion". If you do stay home alone I'm sure you can find other uses for it...
So, if you're bummed about being alone again this Valentines Day, just remember it could be worse. You could be stuck in a loveless marriage with that girl you met at the bar outside the gate at your first duty station.