Single and Happy on Valentine's Day
Feb. 13 -- Thirteen years ago, when his longstanding relationship broke up just a few days before Valentine's Day, Ken Scudder discovered he was on the brink of degenerating into a melancholic mess.
"That year, Valentine's Day happened to fall on a Friday, and I thought that if I have to get through this, I need people around," says the 36-year-old New Yorker, who is a public relations executive by day and a comedian by night.
In his desperate bid for a Valentine survival strategy, Scudder hit upon what seemed at the time a novel plan: an anti-Valentine's Day party.
More than a decade later, his stick-it-to-Cupid party has turned into a February fixture with his ever-expanding circle of friends, including some of his old pals who have since married or are in long-term relationships.
And tonight, on Friday, the 13th, they will once again gather at his Manhattan apartment to celebrate Scudder's 13th Annual Anti-Valentine's Day Party.
Along the way, a set of formalized fun party rules have been put in place. These include regaling the bartender with a derogatory anecdote about a past lover in exchange for a drink and refraining from wearing red or pink garments.
Once again, Valentine's Day is upon us in a rosy puff cloud of commercialism. There are candy boxes in the stores, red roses on the stands, heart-shaped pillows, jewelry cases, greeting cards and trinkets for the taking. There are restaurant meals, mushy movies and ferry rides at sundown.
There are even technological options — unheard of years ago — to address the inconvenience of singleness, from up-close speed dating to online personality matches and virtual relationship counselors.
But for a number of single people, the lead-up to Valentine's Day is the most anxious time of their lives. And in recent years, a growing number of lonely hearts are opting to buck the fetishism of love and go it alone this Valentine's Day — happily.
