I didn’t grow up with Valentine’s Day. Sweden didn’t celebrate it back in my day. (You know, when blonde and blue-eyed dinosaurs roamed the Nordic countries.) These days however, the retail industry all over the world has caught on to the opportunity presented on February 14, so pink and hearts are the dominant displays even in my little home country. My first Valentine’s Day in the states, I was a little shocked at how important it was to everyone in high school–especially the girls–to have someone to call “My Valentine.” I had a boyfriend, and luckily one of my friends clued …
Valentine’s Day
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We didn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day in Sweden while I grew up. (They do now, but that’s more a phenomenon of Hallmark than a national holiday.) So, I didn’t experience the true meaning of February 14 until I came to the US to go to high school for a year and ended up staying much longer. Before I got married, I would like the holiday if I was in a relationship and not really think about it if I wasn’t. Unless I had just gone through a bad breakup or thought the time between boyfriends lagged on. In those situations I’d …