The Kyle File by David Abdel
Everyone’s favorite “love it or hate it” holiday is coming up: Valentine’s Day. It got me thinking about the nature of relationships, especially during this pandemic. I was trying to brainstorm some ideas about what to do with my wife for the holiday, so I enlisted some feedback from friends. It was a surprisingly fruitful conversation each time. My married friends had the typical response of flowers and dinner, maybe some chocolates. I’ve always felt like these were tired efforts, void of creativity so I dismissed them fairly quickly. My single friends, complete with an eyeroll, asked why bother celebrating this year at all. I began to notice something.
Most of the people I spoke with, regardless of relationship status, seemed down about the holiday. It appears as though this pandemic is affecting our ability to find and celebrate love. My married friends said they will probably treat it like any other day, since the pomp and flair of a traditional Valentine’s Day seemed to be missing. They didn’t feel comfortable going out to eat, it would be hard to get a secret gift on a shared Amazon account and sneak a delivery into the house, and there wasn’t much enthusiasm about getting all fancied up to have dinner at home. The luster of the day had worn off. I suggested that it isn’t the ‘what you do’, or ‘what you get’ that makes the holiday special, it’s just the expression of love. While everyone agreed, there just seems to be that something extra missing in this pandemic world that makes the holiday seem a little less special.
