Valentine's Day! (haters to the left)

My mom is the queen of making little holidays full of magic, and she's probably the reason why I can't help but love Valentine's Day.

Every February 14th, my siblings and I woke to find a decorated breakfast table, complete with small gifts for each of us. My mom put on Valentine's Day tea parties, frosted cupcakes pink, and helped my sisters and me make cards out of construction paper and glitter.

I also loved celebrating Valentine's Day at school. I always had a crush and we got to make very cool crafts, like mailboxes (for our Valentine cards) out of butcher paper. We had to wait until the Valentine's Day party to open our cards and candy, and it was hard to wait.

The possibility that my crush (attention Mikey Loomis) might send me a Ninja Turtle card that not only featured Donatello but also asked me to be his Valentine charged my second-grade body with such electricity I thought I would die. Just die.

Today, I'm 25 with no Valentine in sight--Ninja Turtle, or otherwise. And I'm aware that Valentine's Day has its haters: those critics who think the holiday reduces love to bow-tied teddy bears. I agree with them, to an extent. Yes, it's cheesy, but I'm not convinced it's total crap. I think we need a little sugar to sweeten reality.

So, to the haters, I issue this challenge: Go to a craft store. Get yourself some red and pink construction paper, a bottle of Elmer's glue, some glitter and a magic marker. Cut out a heart, make a Valentine, and give it to someone. Anyone. Your mom. Your neighbor. Your crush. 

And if this challenge doesn't help you see the foolish necessity of Valentine's Day, I'll give you my last conversation heart. (It says "kiss me.")