Singles participate in 'Anti-Valentine's Day'

About two years ago, Michael Brooks Anderson and his girlfriend Annie broke up. Annie moved to England, and Anderson took an extended vacation, but sometimes he still misses her. After all, for Anderson, Annie had the “best chance of sticking for real.” 

Sometimes “Happy Valentine’s Day” isn’t too happy. For Anderson, it can almost be an empty attempt to take love, Anderson’s deepest emotion, and reduce it to a simple holiday.

So this year, in an effort to combat the pressure behind this lovey-dovey, draining day, Rachael’s Café held an “Anti-Valentines Day” party. The event featured speed dating and a poetry reading.

“Maybe you’ll meet a hook-up, maybe you’ll meet a friend, either way, good for you,” Rachael Jones, owner of Rachael’s Café, announced. “Just have fun and enjoy the people you’re with.”

Lisha Beitvashahi wore a heart necklace, but her attitude was distinctly
anti-Valentine’s. Beitvashahi recently stopped seeing Simon, a man she was dating, and said she didn’t want to spend the evening alone.

“I was supposed to go to Louisville to see this guy I had been seeing, and I took off a couple days of work to go visit him,” Beitvashahi said. “Two days before I was supposed to go, he told me he met someone else and that she was the ‘girl of
 his dreams.’”

Beitvashahi said she didn’t plan on meeting anyone at the event.

“I think Valentine’s Day is just about being with your family and friends — it doesn’t have to be about a boyfriend or girlfriend,” she said.

Beitvashahi attended  the party with friend Sammi Coop, and the two and laughed about who they would start seeing next.

Like Beitvashahi, Coop said she hadn’t had much luck in love either.

Coop said she had dated many people this year but that it seemed like everyone she saw wanted to “have their cake and eat it, too.”

“It happens,” Coop said. “I’ve met these people a lot this year, and now I know you shouldn’t always trust people until you know them. It’s definitely taught me to be
more careful.”

Still, amid “Cupid is Stupid” balloons, Coop said she isn’t bitter. Like Anderson, she has come to terms with the fact that the relationship is over and now, at least, has happy memories.

And that, Anderson said, is what Valentine’s Day should be about: not some Hallmark of a holiday, but a time to remember the people you care about.

“When you date someone, it colors your life, and you spend a certain percentage of your life with them,” Anderson said. “The only meaningful way to counterbalance all that experience is to accumulate other experiences.”

So, to gain experience, Anderson attended the “Anti-Valentines Day” event. For some, it might not have been the year for “Happy Valentine’s Day,” but for these attendees, memories of past Valentine’s Days are positive.