I would tend to agree.

But, on Valentine's day, it seems as though love is supersized. Cellophane wrapped for your consumer pleasure.

In fact, I just saw a tiny box of rose petals with some cheap glitter on them selling for $13.00 a pop.

And a bouquet of roses for $60.00

S-I-X-T-Y DOLLARS.

I'm sorry. Unless these flowers can perform oral sex, I don't think they are worth that much money.

The purely capitalist underpinnings of the holiday aside, it's a day that celebrates love. So I'm down with it.

Can't argue with that.

However, having spent roughly half my years with and half without someone on Valetine's day, I can see the tendency to feel a bit left out if you happen to be alone today.

But don't. Seriously, don't.

I'm not saying that just to make you feel better. Although I hope you do, there's a logical rationale behind that statement.

There are billions of people on this earth. If we really wanted to, we would never have to be alone.

Oprah had a show with a woman who dated 100 guys in, I think, 6 months. She wanted to speed up the process of finding "Mr. Right". So she became proactive about the whole thing.

I don't even think I know 100 guys. Hell, I barely know 100 people.

Point being, if you really didn't want to be alone, you could be with someone. You might not be happy ... but you wouldn't be alone.

But then you are going against the cosmic grain, I think.

We're taught that, if you're not with somebody, it's because noone wants you. So find someone. Be anything but alone.

However, this message is brought to you by the same people who are pedaling non-oral sex giving rose bouquets for $60 on Valentine's day.

So they have ulterior motives. Not exactly vested in your happiness.

I'm not saying this because I'm married. I'm saying this because, for all areas that my faith is lacking, I make up for it in my whole-hearted belief in love. I may doubt the existence of god, of heaven, of even the supernatural ... but my faith is rock solid when it comes to love.

It will find you. Whoever you are. In fact, it's usually been there all along. You just didn't see it because you were looking too hard for it.

Kinda like when you lose your car keys.

All those years when I was alone ... and even for some when I wasn't ... I would write love letters to the person that I was going to marry. Didn't know who they were. Hadn't met them yet. But I knew they were out there.

Waiting for me somewhere.

For the last two years I wrote those letters, I was in relationships. I wasn't alone - so theoretically I should have been happy. But I wasn't. It wasn't them. I wasn't unhappy because of the relationships. I was unhappy because I knew that I was biding my time.

I was with these people for the sake of being with someone. Not because I was in love.

For all those years, I kept my love letters secret. In a little purple box in my desk drawer.

They would always begin with "My Love". Because I didn't have a name for the person I was writing to. Only a feeling that I would find them. Someday. Hopefully someday soon.

Finally, when my last relationship ended ... I decided I needed to be alone. The idea terrified me. However, although I had gotten the whole lust thing down pat, I wasn't really making in headway in the love department.

So I made a decision to be by myself for a year. Not to date a single person. I came to the conclusion that I was settling. In the sense that I stayed in relationships because I liked a warm body next to me. Because I needed to be kissed. Because I wanted to feel like I belonged with someone.

I was with these perfectly nice guys because I didn't want to be alone.

But not because I was in love.

My relationship ended the week before Valentine's day.

Man, did that suck.

At first.

But then I took out my little purple box and wrote another love letter.

And I realized that I was going to be okay. Valentine's day be damned. I wasn't going to feel bad because I was alone. I was going to feel empowered.

I was listening to my heart instead of the siren song of the consumer market.

Seven months later, I met Jake. Completely out of the blue. And totally unready for it.

I was hit by a drive-by of love.

I was dragged to his house by a friend. I didn't even want to be there. I didn't even notice Jake the whole night.

The last thing on my mind was a relationship. Marriage wasn't even on the radar.

It took him a week to talk to me.

Two weeks to convince me to go on a date with him.

A month later, we moved in together.

Eight months later, we were married.

That was three years agos.

And, I can honestly say, it has been the best three years of my life.

On our wedding day, I gave him the love letters that I had written for all those years.

They always belonged to him in the first place.

God, I love that story.

So, whether you are with someone or not ... have a Happy Valentine's day.

Because, even if it doesn't seem like it right now, you are loved by someone.

And, odds are, they are closer than you think.

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