Thursday, February 14, 2013

Handsome In Hindsight



"The tall blonde lets out a cry of despair says/ Would have cut it myself if I knew men could climb hair/ I'll have to find another tower somewhere and keep away from the windows"


Ouch. Not exactly the Rapunzel from the fairytales, right? 

The above lyrics come from the song, "Fairytale," by Sara Bareilles.  This is by far one of my favorite songs from her body of work and it's obvious why.  Sara has this way of presenting biting sarcasm in such an adorable way.  As I'm sure you are all aware, today is Valentine's Day! (cue the applause and most likely, groans) And let's be honest here, I'm sure there are many of you out there who feel some sort of sentiment similar to what "Rapunzel" is expressing in this song---"I'm done with this whole 'love' thing. I'll see you on February 15th." Trust me, I sympathize.  

It can be very hard, as a single person (woman especially), to see boyfriends giving their girlfriends roses and not feel like you are missing out on something...or even just to be inundated by the constant reminder that you are in fact, single (making it seem like there is something wrong with that).  The nature of the way the holiday is marketed makes you feel bad even if the other 364 days of the year you are perfectly content in your independence.

Personally, I miss the elementary school days when you would decorate your own bag and all of your friends brought Valentines and placed them in your bag throughout the day.  I remember the excitement of going home and dumping it out to see who had left you one and if they had written anything special.  Did your crush leave a  super-hero-themed Valentine in your bag?  Oh the joy!! But all joking aside, Valentine's Day as a kid pretty much rocked.  

I fear the older that we get, Valentine's Day begins to symbolize failure in a lot of ways (in addition to commercialism, but that is a whole other blog post) - another year, and yet still no successful romance on February 14th.


One of the things I love about this Sara Bareilles song is that she debunks this idea that a fairytale just means one thing - boy meets girl, boy woos girl (and potentially climbs a tower), boy and girl live happily ever after.  In the song, she fights back at this notion, singing "Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom/ Man made up a story said that I should believe him/ Go and tell your white knight that he's handsome in hindsight/ But I don't want the next best thing/ So I sing and hold my head down and I break these walls round me/ Can't take no more of your fairytale love." Can't take no more? 

For those of you who know me, it's no secret that I love fairytales, and I would be lying if I said I didn't still hold out for this beautiful, fairytale-like love story.  But this idea that romantic love is the only way to find that is kind of ridiculous.  This past weekend I was blessed to have a really great weekend.  It was such a good reminder to me that life can be pretty wonderful even in a time of heartbreak or singleness.  Happiness can sneak up on you and so can love in all its forms. 

So this year, let's take our Valentine's Day with a lot of sugar, a little bit of sass and a healthy dose of sarcasm, remembering that romantic love is not the only kind of awesome love that there is.  Buy yourself some conversation hearts and tell someone you care.  Happy Valentine's Day!

XOXO,
Kristin

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