While all of you happily married couples and goo-goo eyed lovers approach Valentine’s Day full of hope of more romance and love — those of us who are single say — whatever.

I, for one, hate it. I can’t remember one Valentine’s Day going well for me. This year I am single along with a few of my co-workers. One of my girlfriends, that shall remain anonymous, said she would be celebrating alone this year and how bummed she is about that fact. Well, welcome to my world.

It is a really depressing holiday for those of us who don’t have someone — even one of the sports writers admitted that fact.

One year, one of my former boyfriends called me about five days before Valentine’s Day and told me he was breaking up with me. He said, blah, blah, blah, “It’s not you, it’s me.” Again, I say, whatever. I told him that not only could he “not” break up with me days before Valentine’s Day, he would be taking me out on a date and then he could break up with me later in person. But needless to say, even though he did take me out to a very nice dinner, I knew what our future held, so it is not one of my favorite Valentine’s Day memories.

Yesterday I was writing a lovely story about how shoppers should patronize downtown businesses for their Valentine’s Day needs, today I am going to poo-poo the entire holiday. It’s like Tom Joyce says, It’s just a Hallmark holiday out to remove cash from your wallet.

I will have to give Valentine’s Day credit for one thing. At least it forces people to shop locally. I have talked with several florists, a jeweler and a bed and breakfast owner and they all say business is great. I’m always grateful to see local businesses succeeding.

I remember Valentine’s Days even from when I was a kid. You know how you get those little Valentine’s Day cards that you have to make sure to hand out one to every classmate? I think that was a very nice system for handling Valentine’s Day, because in those days, no one had a girlfriend or boyfriend. Everyone was included.

I guess that is basically what I find fault with these days with Valentine’s Day is that if you are not in a serious relationship or married, you just feel left out. And as if things aren’t bad enough there’s now a best-selling book out for all of us lonely hearts called, “He’s just not that into you.” The movie by the same name was released on Feb. 6, just in time for Valentine’s Day. So now I will have something to do with my other single girlfriends on Valentine’s Day. We can go see a movie to tell us why we are single in the first place.

So as Valentine’s Day approaches, I try not to cringe as I am barraged with commercials about how in love everyone is this time of year. I will be working on that day, as usual, trying to keep my mind occupied with other things. But even in this business it is impossible to ignore how happy everyone is and not to wish for just a moment that you had someone special, too.

Mondee Tilley is a staff reporter for The Mount Airy News. She can be reached at mtilley@mtairynews.com or at 719-1930.