Valentine’s Day has come and gone but the blues and bliss of the day will linger for many months to come. A lot of people, young and old trooped out in their numbers to mark the day; restaurants, movies theaters, hotels, parks were all filled to capacity. Euphoric celebrations, wild expectations, melancholic regrets and self reflection were rife on the day.

The stark reality of the aftermath of lovers’ day has suddenly dawned on some people. Many spent money they ordinarily cannot afford just to show off, relationships which are clearly doomed to fail from the onset were started out of desperation to be with someone yesterday. Set boundaries were demolished and caution thrown to the wind, people succumbed to the pressure of doing things they will ordinarily not consider doing.

A lot of good relationships ended yesterday because one of the partners either had no money to buy presents or take their partner out to posh and exotic restaurants or was unavoidably absent. People committed to more than one partner were exposed, it was indeed a day or laughter and tears.

In all of this, one thing is clear, it takes more than the display of love and affection in one day to assess a relationship. The activities on lovers day or lack of it should not and cannot be a yardstick to measure love. It is also important to note that being the one present on St Valentine’s Day does not automatically bestow on you the status of numero uno in his or her life. Some people are experts on eating their cakes and still have it, don’t be deceived.

A consistent show of love and affection over a considerable period of time is required to comfortably conclude that a person loves and cares for you. So before you take that big decision based on what happened yesterday, give it a little while longer. Don’t make the mistake of trying to convert a temporary relationship of convenience into a permanent one, or end a good long term relationship because of the activities of one day – Sir Stanley Ekezie