Eleanor Rigby

Paul McCartney wrote "Eleanor Rigby" around the middle of the Beatles' career.  It's a sad song, a song about loneliness.  Just look at some the lyrics...

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream.
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?


The second verse is even more gloomy...

Father Mckenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near.
Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?


I picked "Eleanor Rigby" for this week because of the upcoming holiday.  That's right, next Tuesday is Valentine's Day!

Yuck.

I don't hate Valentine's Day.  I'm not one of those radicals who protests that we should love our significant others every day of the year and therefore boycott the festivities of February 14th.  In fact, I probably will go out to dinner on Valentine's Day.  I might even end up with flowers or candy or some other mushy gushy gift.  It's possible that I may even enjoy myself...  Nevertheless, I equate Valentine's Day with loneliness and disappointment.

I've spent February 14th single and I've spent it in relationships.  One year, my ex-boyfriend promised to take me to dinner and then to the movie theater to watch the premier of "Dear John." Here's how the evening actually went:

On our way to dinner, we stopped at Petco, where my ex bought himself a $70 snake. I hate snakes.  He then took me to Ponderosa (Ponderosa?!) and admitted he had spent all his cash at Petco.  I paid the dinner bill with my emergency credit card.  Since he didn't have any money left, we skipped the movie and went back to my house, where he set the snake up in a fish tank in my basement.  My basement.  That damn reptile stayed in my basement for over a year.  I was in a long-term relationship, and I was still one of "all the lonely people"...

"Where do they all come from?"  There's the bitter man who spends hundreds of dollars on earrings and getaways and fancy meals, receiving a $2.39 Hallmark card in return.  There's my friend, let's just call her Eleanor, who is perpetually stuck in the "friend zone" with the man of her dreams, the man who will call her and ask where he should take his girlfriend for the holiday.  There are the single women who go out together on Valentine's day, drink to their "independence," and then sloppily text their ex-boyfriends as the night goes on.  "All the lonely people"...

 "Where do they all belong?"  In my experience, I just haven't known Valentine's Day to turn out as joyful and romantic as expected.  However, even though the holiday may be stupid, love isn't.  If you love someone, celebrate it!  Show it off on February 14th!  And if you're single, spend the evening with your friends, your family, the other people you love.  Enjoy the holiday, no matter how much it sucks.  Be positive... I'm trying to do the same.

"Ah, look at all the lonely people."