Last year I posted about the fact that in Finland, Valentine’s day is actually a celebration of friendship, not of idealised and commercialised romantic love. This year I’d like to share with you just what non-idealised, unromantic, real and everyday love has done for me over the year. (And a few hilarious alternative VD cards too).
To the long-term ill friend who knows what poverty and emotional hardship are like, who understands chosen family and who in full cognizance of all that still adopted me to be his notional kid brother: I haven’t got words.You are such an incredibly, profoundly good person. It’s a privilege to know someone like you.
To the married friend who relies on me to be her husband substitute whenever he’s away (and, incidentally, loves me and worries about me more than some of my family do): you know very well you light up my whole life. We’re the kind of friends who feel like we’ve never been apart even though you’ve damn well emigrated. Don’t stop being like that, ever. And BLOODY COME BACK HOME.
To the asexual friend who helped me realise I’m demisexual and thereby explained a whole hell of a lot about why I’ve been repeating the same pattern of unhelpful crazy with men ever since I transitioned: you are made of crispy, delicious, personal-insight-generating win. *And* you finally nudged me to finish reading Lord of the Rings.
To the slightly Aspergers-y friend who *absolutely* couldn’t deal with me being a drama queen (see above) but has nevertheless forgiven and forgotten anyway: man I’m glad you don’t hate me. You win the Putting Up With My Shit trophy for 2014 hands down.
To the guy having the bad few years right now who’s blocked me on Facebook: OK, I was an idiot about liking you, see above, but it’s not *that* rude to fall for someone. Either way, I wish you the best, you deserve it.
And to a certain bisexual friend – he knows who he is – who’s been an absolute star to me recently, who’s not quite sure about the idea of dating a man, and who I wish I could help to become more comfortable with himself in every way: well, I wish I could help. Maybe I can. Maybe you’ll even let me try someday. We’ll see.
And just as a coda, a few more awesomely subversive V-Day cards, complete with links to their worth-giving-money-or-clicks-to creators:
- You Smell Nice
- Sensory Input
- Mind the Gap
- And of course the redoubtable someecards.com‘s V-day selection.
Felix Pearce 