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| Boston native Todd Beeman is experiencing his best Valentine's Day in years. |
Beeman, a fisheries worker and part-time snow-plow operator, told The Sentinel Dispatch via Skype that "only once in my life have I had a girlfriend on Valentine's Day." That was back in 1998 when he dated his high school sweetheart, a relationship that lasted five months - a record for Todd. "I can't really say that I have fond memories of that Valentine's Day either, because Lisa dumped me a week later after she found my signed 8x10 of Jeri Ryan from Star Trek: Voyager."
In the ensuing years, Beeman became accustomed to phone calls from his mother and sister on February 14th, wishing him a "Happy Valentine's Day," with veiled pity transmitting through his cell. "I know that they meant well, but I didn't really need a reminder each year that although I am a really nice guy, I can't seem to hold down a relationship," says the graduate of University of Massachusetts Boston.
However, as Beeman told Sentinel reporter Diane Lester on Saturday morning, "things are completely different this year." According to Beeman, a Red Sox season ticket holder, "For some reason I decided to log in to Facebook this morning, something that I always avoid doing on Valentine's Day. It was there, as I scrolled down my news feed, that I began to read soul-reaching messages from my friends who are either married or in long-term relationships, affirming that, although some of us are single, we are of no less value than them just because we have no one to curl up with. It was truly amazing, I had never quite thought of it that way before," says an obviously encouraged Beeman. "For years I have thought that I had no value because I am single, but these enriching messages and meme's have really touched my soul. I found that I was able to release emotions that I haven't felt for decades."
Beeman says he can't put into words what it has meant to be buoyed this year and thus be able to realize a self-worth that has been evasive for so many years. "This year, instead of staying inside with my curtains shut, clutching onto a can of Bud Light and watching Lord of the Rings until midnight strikes and February 14th is over with, I will do something different. This year, I will still stay inside with my curtains shut. I will still clutch onto a can of Bud Light and watch Lord of the Rings, but I will do so with a slight smile intermingling with the cascading tears."
From Our Boston Bureau