Well, well, well...I guess my blood contains some strong 8th-of-March antibodies, because in my family this has never been considered a holiday. I remember how at school in the beginning of March they would make us draw cards to give to our moms as presents and how my schoolmates would save money to get their mothers a gift. Then, when the big day would come, everybody would bring flowers to our female teachers and would start telling what presents their moms got from their fathers and friends, and how they were to celebrate it in the evening. The cards I made, as it was a part of my school obligations, not great ones, of course, as I am not a very talented painter, but when the day came, no person from my family gave my mom any present or at least- a lonely carnation. My father would always emphasize to me this was a Communist holiday celebrated in Russia and the subordinate countries, and my mother would just say that she hates that day as according to her there shouldn't be just one day in the year on which people suddenly decide they need to celebrate women and in the rest 364 days of the year would just overload them with duties. My counterarguments that all the other families do not think so remained basically unheard and so I just resorted to some childish lies that I would say to my friends at school. I remember once I went so far that I said to a friend that my dad bought a fur coat to my mom on the occassion. It was about the period my family was so poor that the only present my mom got for her birthday were plastic slippers from the market.
Of course all this family propaganda influenced my judgment later, but I think I grew enough to see with my own eyes that especially in Bulgaria this holiday is quite a nonsense. I always feel something mouldy and irritating in the 8th-March-air. I wonder if it's just some of the Communist connotation this holiday will always have for me, or just my refusal to deny that it is celebrated internationally, also in the Western world.
Moreover, it always freaked me out to see some ecstatic women with their hair freshly styled and their make-up stronger than usual (and than necessary) going out in artificially high spirits to have a ladies' night out, to see strippers, get drunk, feel fabulous, make fake compliments to each other, and then later bitch about men and very often try in some ways to hide the fact how unsuccessful they are in love, family and life by screaming out meaningless statements varying from the funny-sounding "Girl power!"to the serious drunken insults like "That son of a bitch just does not deserve me, I can do so much better".
Not for me. I never thought men are trash, not even for a day, not even when I was not quite successful. It is also true that I am happily in love, but this does not mean I do not enjoy ladies' nights with my girlfriends. But somehow I never manage to get myself in the right mood on certain holidays, such as St Valentine, New Year and the Woman's Day...because those are exactly the days when someone decided I should just have LOOOTS of fun. In a banal way. I prefer spontaneity, honestly.
And let's just say it- prices of flowers today are unreasonably high. And extravagant life is something not everyone can afford, especially in those hard times. I know better ways to spend money, trust me. :)
P.S. I still love getting flowers on any given day but today:)
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