Valentine’s Day was always one of my favorite holidays when I was in elementary school. I liked it even better than Halloween, probably because I went to Catholic school and my first grade teacher made our class dress as saints and I really wanted to be Punky Brewster instead of Saint Therese the Little Flower. But we didn’t have any rules like that for Valentine’s Day! We got to eat candy, talk about the history of Saint Valentine (which is actually quite fascinating if you’re not familiar and want to give it a google), and everyone got a Valentine from each person in the class. I remember spending hours working on my Valentines for my friends and wondering if my crush, Matt Demczko, spent extra time working on mine because his penmanship looked nicer on my card than it did on his homework assignments. (I’m a master of reading into things that mean nothing.)
Then I grew up and my feelings surrounding Valentine’s Day became a bit more complicated. When I was in a relationship I felt pressured to make the day special and I also had a high expectation for my partner to make the day memorable. (Of course I denied this at the time, making it seem like I was “chill” and didn’t care about the holiday at all.) When I was single, I found myself frantically trying to make plans and stay busy; I wanted to reassure myself that I was “enough” even though I wasn’t part of a couple. I never felt like this during the rest of the year, but the holiday that had once brought me such joy was now a source of stress and I really didn’t want it to be that way.
I know that I’m not alone in this Valentine’s Day related stress, so Bundle decided to do something about it. We are teaming up with the founders of Double Dragon Coaching to bring you Take Back Your VDay: An Alternative Valentine’s Day Event. We will be playing games, eating food, making Valentines, drinking wine, and most importantly, harkening back to a time when life was simpler, everyone got a Valentine, and all you had to worry about was decoding the potential secret messages in your crush’s handwriting. There will be something for everyone at this event - whether you want to add an item to our makeshift Ghosts of Partners' Past pop-up exhibit, bond with friends and strangers over a game of Bundle, get insights from Double Dragon Coaching, or guzzle Cabernet alone in a corner - we’ve got you covered. Get your tickets here. We can’t wait to see you this Valentine’s Day so we can all Take Back Our VDays together.
Bundle love,
Jacklyn
P.S. For those of you who are worried, I did finally get to dress up as Punky Brewster in 8th grade. Dreams do come true.
Left to Right: Jacklyn (Punky Brewster), our brother Shawn (Notre Dame leprechaun), Cassie (Dorothy)