Valentine's Day Sucks, but Northanger Abbey Doesn't.

Which is why I'm spending my Valentine's night watching JJ Field, Felicity Jones, Carrie Mulligan (she of the Oscar nomination for AN EDUCATION), and the rest of the brilliant cast of NORTHANGER ABBEY , which airs on PBS Masterpiece Classic tonight.

Don't get me wrong. I'm a romantic who is happily in love with my wonderful husband. But let's face it, Valentine's Day is a holiday designed to make single people feel bad about themselves (and I spent many years in the state of singledom) and people in relationships disappointed in one another.

Sure, I loved Valentine's Day as a child, because it meant cute little cards and candies for everyone in class. But once childhood is over, we enter the stage of adult expectations. And expectations always mean disappointment.

You know, the kind of disappointment where you told yourself your loved one was going to buy you expensive flowers at the florist's instead of supermarket flowers. Or dinner at that restaurant you told him about instead of bringing home burgers from the diner down the street. Or a piece of jewelry instead of something with an electrical cord.

See what I mean? Suddenly love is measured in dollars and cents and units of thoughtfulness and degrees of mind-reading and catering to neediness. Is that anywhere a thinking/feeling/loving person wants to be? Not to mention the fact that if you don't have a special someone to put to the test of true love every February 14, you feel even worse. Which is why I swore off Valentine's Day long ago. And I haven't had a glimmer of one of those disappointing V-Days ever since.

Which is why I'm celebrating love with the perfect antidote to the Valentine's Day blues: It's called NORTHANGER ABBEY, and it's a lovely adaptation of Jane Austen's delightful, witty, and very romantic coming-of-age story. NORTHANGER ABBEY airs tonight on PBS Masterpiece Classic. Check your local listings, settle in with something and/or someone yummy, and treat yourself to a date with Henry Tilney. If you don't know who he is, you soon will.

And if you really want to have fun, join the NORTHANGER ABBEY Twitter party and tweet away with other Austen fans during the broadcast. We had so much fun tweeting during the EMMA broadcasts the past three weeks that we can't resist doing the same for NORTHANGER ABBEY. We'll be using the same hashtag: #emma_pbs .

See you at the Abbey. And on Twitter. And don't forget to be really good to yourself and read the book!

Comments

[Laurie Viera Rigler]

Heart-shaped meat loaf--that is really cute! Sounds like you and your wife have the right approach to Valentine's Day. Thanks for the post!

[Bill]

When we were first married my wife and I didn't have much money so she made heart shaped meat loaf and we exchanged two cards each - one funny and one sweet. We kept that tradition and I look forward to the heart shaped meat loaf every year. Traditions like this take the stress out of what would otherwise be a big potential for broken dreams. Who wants that.

[Laurie Viera Rigler]

Change of hashtags for the Twitter party: #emma_pbs OR #na_pbs ! http://www.tweetgrid.com can help you watch both tags.

[Laurie Viera Rigler]

I'm with you!For me the best presents (to give and to receive) are the ones that arrive on no occasion at all, just from the good impulse of the moment.

[The Domestic Goddess]

Count me in for not loving Valentine's Day, though I'm happily married. It's very commercial and materialistic. It sends a message that says, "Hey! If you don't buy your wife this gaudy, over-priced neckless, then you obviously don't love her!" Talk about guilt trip! I've never asked for a thing and gave my husband the A-ok to STOP BUYING THAT STUFF a long time ago. And he still tried buying flowers a few years in a row. Honestly, I love flowers but I don't want him to feel forced to buy them, you know? he loves me every day of the year, not just February 14th.