Melissa -- I love that Idea. I'm going to call my best friend right now and tell her I love her.

Ah, true enough. I gift offered freely without the feeling that you're expected to is a good thing.

When I was in college, in my naive and romantic youth, I found myself sans girlfriend but uncharacteristically flush with cash on Valentine's Day. On a whim I bought a couple of dozen roses and walked around campus handing them out spontaneously, a few to friends but mostly to strangers. I can still remember the mystified, stunned looks of the women I handed a rose to. To each I simply smiled, said "Happy Valentine's Day", handed her a rose and then walked away. After I gave away the last rose, I remember having had a great time and being about as happy as I ever was in college, which is saying something because was extremely happy and had a really good time the whole time I was in college.

What was even better in the months that followed was the mystified smiles I got from the women I gave roses to as I saw them around campus. I always imaging them thinking "WTF?" when they saw me especially since I made no effort to pick them up or ask them out. I still don't know if what I did was a good thing but I do remember a couple good friends of mine who I gave roses to later told me they felt extremely special having a rose to carry with them on Valentine's Day. I take a little comfort from that. Goddam, that was fun.