Valentine’s Day to Presidents’ Day

The calendar is playing some tricks on us this weekend with Valentine’s Day falling on the Friday before Presidents’ Day. It is an odd juxtaposition, with one day focused on love and the other focused on presidents from days gone by.

As far as I’m concerned, Valentine’s Day is the highlight. It ought to be a national holiday. No, make that a global one — a worldwide celebration with all the trimmings, where everyone takes 24 hours to simply love. Puppy love. Married love. Tinder love. Brotherly love. Carnal love. Love of life. Yes, Valentine’s should be the day, or in this case, the four-day weekend, where people everywhere stop and celebrate their love for each other. Because as we all know, what the world needs now, is love, sweet love.

Yes, Valentine’s Day is the one we need to codify into law. The president could do it with the stroke of a pen, and everyone would applaud.

While many parts of the world mark Valentine’s Day as a romantic notion, not one country on earth designates it as an “official” national holiday. We tend to save the official days to remember battles or births.

In fact, Valentine’s Day is, for many, more of a marketing opportunity. It’s the sale of love, as it were. But if there were one righteous movement that could be launched that is appropriate for our times, it would be one that codifies one day a year for coming together for the purpose of contemplating love. Why not make it Valentine’s Day?

Valentine’s Day is today, Feb. 14, and, if you haven’t yet, take a moment to kiss the one you love. If you don’t happen to be with the one you love, then love the one you’re with, as the song goes.

Then there is Presidents Day. While Valentine’s is a day to mark emotion, Presidents Day was created by the federal government in 1879 to honor the first president, George Washington, who was born on Feb. 22, 1732. In fact, when passed, the day was referred to as Washington’s Birthday, and, to this day, it is officially Washington’s Birthday, according to the Feds. As far as the federal government is concerned, there is no official Presidents Day.

In 1971, the “Uniform Holiday Monday Act” was passed by Congress, moving Washington’s Birthday to the third Monday in February, and states and marketers began to call it Presidents Day. In Colorado the third Monday in February is a state holiday and is officially called Washington-Lincoln Day. Today, for better or worse, Presidents Day has come to commemorate all of the 42 men who served as president of the United States instead of just Washington and Lincoln.

By the way, did you know that Washington was the only president who did not belong to a political party? And that he was also the only president to have been unanimously elected by the electoral college? Coincidence? Maybe. Or maybe not.

Anyway, this upcoming Monday is a day off for most, and it is a boon for ski resorts throughout the state — including ours — as families take advantage of the three-day weekend to take some time off and get some turns in. It may not have the romance of Valentine’s Day, but everybody loves a holiday Monday.

Me, I like Valentine’s.