Valentine's Day

 I don't really celebrate Valentine's Day anymore.  Sure, Michael and I do cards most years and maybe a little something, but it really hasn't been my thing.  If you didn't already know, Mom died on February 13th, 1996.  That put a pretty good damper on wanting to celebrate it.  It does not bother me in any way, it's simply that time of year brings back other memories that take precedence over St. Valentine.  Now, catch me on February 15th when all of the candy is 50% off, if not more, then you'll see some celebrating!  Normally.  But not this year simply because we are still satiated with candy from Christmas.  That's one of the downsides of hiding things.  I open up a cabinet and there's more candy staring at me.  Ah, well.  First world problems.

But I was thinking the other day how much I miss the Valentine's Day of elementary school.  Every one gave every one else a valentine.  We would make holders for cards with our names on them that went up on the bulletin board.  I specifically remember making one out of two red construction paper hearts.  We'd draw the hearts and cut them out.  We'd fold the hearts in half then either staple or glue (or sometimes both) the edges together to make one large heart shaped card holder.  Ah, arts and crafts.  I need more of that in my life, but I'll save that for another blog.

I'm sure some kind of note went home to our parents because no kid in class was left out.  We all got cards from all of the kids in our class.  I remember in 1st grade, a girl in my class gave me about 20 cards.  Apparently she had a crush on me LOL  And there was always Valentine candy.  I don't remember if we brought candy or if the teacher's had it for us but it was always there.  Mostly, we'd take the cards home at the end of the school day and open them all up at home.  It was a treat to take with us.  

I miss those boxes of cards you use to buy for Valentine's Day.  Always an assortment in the box.  Sometimes with a specific theme like Garfield or Charlie Brown.  But they were corny, as those cards tend to be.  And there were the cheap very thin envelopes where the glue on the back always tasted old and musty even if the box was brand new.  You had to be careful, even at that young age, to pick just the right card for the right person.  Otherwise, it could have been social disaster.  Still, it was a good time and it is an even better memory.  Happy Valentine's day!

That is all