Valentine cookies at Full Moon Rising Bakery. Photo by Andrea Latona

With Valentine’s Day taking place tomorrow, I know plenty of you will be bombarded with the usual flowers and candy and romantic dinner dates. But for those of you flying solo like myself, fear not. You can be just as happy being single on this “Day for Lovers” as the next guy. Resist the pressure to couple it up if it doesn’t happen to be the time for you. Just be happy celebrating the moment. Party for one?

When V-Day fast approaches, I like to look back on some of my past dating experiences to remind myself why being single isn’t so bad, knowing the alternative. I feel like we’ve all had that one date where you’re just hoping your friend calls with an “emergency” to get you out of the awful dinner where he keeps going on and on about his ex-girlfriend and how much you remind him of her. Or the dreaded moment where he walks you to the door and when he goes in for the kiss, and you awkwardly award him with a high-five because you want to be polite but just aren’t there yet. No? Am I the only one?

Being the last single girl amongst most of my friends, I’m often set up with a guy they think is “just my type.” After sharing some of my experiences with you, I’ll let you be the judge.

When I first moved to California, I met a guy through a mutual friend and he wanted to give me the “True Hollywood” experience. He had the date all planned out. Thai food in West Hollywood, a comedy show at The Laugh Factory, and cocktails to close out the evening at Universal City Walk. It sounded like a date straight out of the movies. Little did I know, I was about to star in my very own reality drama. The evening started with him not even meeting me at my door because his truck was too big for any parking spots outside of my place. “Hop on in!” he yelled, as I left my building in my already uncomfortable heels realizing I was clearly overdressed for this date. Once we made our way through the usual LA traffic, dinner was less than satisfying. He ordered for me, insisting I HAD to try to the spicy shrimp soup and the Pad Thai. I told him I wasn’t a fan of spicy and I’m happy ordering for myself. His response? “You’ll be alright.” To make matters worse, he flirted with our waitress the entire meal and bragged about his eagle tattoo that he insisted on showing off which spanned from the back of his neck down to his rib cage. I could tell this guy was classy.

Our next stop was the comedy club where he almost got into a fight with one of the other guests at the show for bumping our table and slightly spilling his drink. I laughed uncomfortably at the comedians, ready to get the heck out of there. I told him I was tired and wanted to call it a night, but the excitement didn’t end there.

On the way home, he had a bout of road rage with another driver and had no shame in rolling down my window and leaning over me to scream at the other vehicle. When they yelled back, he told them to “show some respect to the lady.” Wait, he meant me? This guy has got to be kidding. As we pull up in front of my building, he leans over for a kiss and I abruptly stop him with an awkward hug. I quickly made my escape and I don’t even think my heels hit the sidewalk before he revved up his engine and peeled out of there like a bat out of hell.

Shockingly, there was never a second date and I still cringe whenever I see a lifted truck drive by.

Clearly, the guys on the east coast have a different way of showing a girl a good time. If a guy says he wants to take you to Niagara Falls, what comes to mind? “How romantic! He wants to show me the majestic Falls and maybe the night will end with me being swept away into his arms.” But in my world, that is never the case. Nope, I get the guy who wants to go to Niagara Falls because the convention center is hosting their annual RV Show Extravaganza! You read that right — RVs. Call me a hopeless romantic, but when I think of a first date, I don’t usually envision energetic salesmen telling me how I can be pre-approved for a low interest rate on a 40-foot motorhome. It didn’t help that as soon as we walked into the show, he yells to anyone in earshot, “We’re on our first date!” All I could think was, “buddy, no one’s gonna high-five ya on that comment in this place.”

At first, I was mortified, but as the night went on he convinced me it’d be fun to pretend we were a couple from out of town “lookin’ for something real nice to take on the open road,” I lightened up and appreciated his outlook on life. He only took me there to break the ice and do something out of the ordinary. In the end, we passed on the RV and anything romantic, but it was one of the most memorable dates I can say I’ve ever been on.

Single is celebrating your independence and embarking on the journey to discovering yourself and who you want to be in this world.

There’s a difference between being alone and being lonely. Being single allows you to oversee your own happiness and never forcing you to rely on another person to create it for you. When I look at Feb. 14 I see it as just another day in the many more to come.

Shirley Maclaine said it best. “The most profound relationship we’ll ever have is the one with ourselves.”