I used to hate Valentine’s Day, which is such a cliché. Every year, you hear people bitch about how it’s just an excuse to sell greeting cards and chocolate and how it’s “Singles Awareness Day” for people without significant others. All that is true, but in spite of that, I’ve found myself enjoying Valentine’s Day more and more in recent years.

Why? For the simplest reason ever—there are worse things than being single. Being in a good relationship > being single >being in a bad relationship. I’d much rather spend Valentine’s Day unattached than with someone I just started dating, or someone I’ve been dating for awhile but no longer want to be, or someone who likes me a lot more than I like him or vice versa. I know people who are spending V-Day with people it would be better for them not to be with, and I don’t envy them a bit.

Also, a lack of a relationship doesn’t mean a lack of love. At this point, I see Valentine’s Day as a time to celebrate the loving relationships I do have—with my friends and with myself.

Last night I went out with some of my favorite single ladies for our own Valentine’s Day celebration. We ate some fabulous unhealthy food at Coolidge Corner Clubhouse and then headed over to My So-Called 90s Night at Common Ground in Allston. For those of you who have never experienced this particular event, it is possibly the best time you will have at a bar in Boston—hours of Backstreet Boys, Third Eye Blind, Coolio, Ace of Base, Britney Spears, Chumbawumba, etc. We danced, yelled out the lyrics, did shots, and drank a lot of beer. When I’m finally not single, I’m going to miss this built-in excuse to go out with my girlfriends. Maybe then, Flag Day will become my new hang-out-with-the-girls holiday.

Tonight I ordered sushi, poured myself some wine, took a hot bubble bath, and watched my DVR’ed TV shows and some of my favorite chick flicks. I also bought myself a heart-shaped box of candy and a single red rose. Why not? While there are certainly things in my life that could be improved, for the most part, I am very, very happy. (My whole house is great! I can do anything good!) And if that’s not something to celebrate, what is?