February 14th, one of the most beloved and hated holidays of the early year. Valentine’s day has been around for years, and every year, there are guys and girls who proclaim they love or hate Valentine’s Day.

Many people have many opinions on this holiday. The much more recent and much less controversial February holiday is Galentine’s Day! This holiday takes place on February 13th, the day before Valentine’s Day, and is a celebration of best friends! This wonderful holiday, stemming from the popular show Parks and Rec, is the holiday that we all needed!

Friendships are something that all humans want to have/ are looking for in life. So why do we never think to celebrate our friends? Galentine’s day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the special ladies in your life.

Your girl-friends do the most for you, they are there to help you in a pinch, they have random dance parties with you, they give you life advice (sometimes good, sometimes bad). In a world that is so focused on having a boyfriend, and on being in a relationship, it’s nice to kick off the season of love with a day devoted to loving your friends!

Your friends are the ones who stick by you in the thick and in the thin. They are the ones who you call up for a late-night french-fry run. They are the ones who help you craft your text messages to your crush. You love your friends, so why is it that for so long, only romantic love was celebrated?

Boys can be complicated and confusing, so spending a day with just the gal-pals is a nice way to relax and to prepare for the whirlwind that is Valentine’s Day. So go see a movie with your friends! Go shamelessly drop a crazy amount of money on some fancy brunch! Stay up late and giggle over dumb ‘would you rather’ questions while a rom-com plays in the background.

Before you spend the day celebrating your significant other or before you spend the day either lamenting or defending your singleness, celebrate the girls who have been there for you for a long long time. Celebrate the girls that you know aren’t going anywhere. Love your friends, for they are the greatest example of kindness, fun, love, and a giving spirit. Here’s to the ladies by your side every day! Celebrate them and remember that there are more kinds of love than romantic.