Valentine's Day

Here we are in February.  It's a cruel month.  We're in the depths of winter and it's cold, dark, cold, often wet, frosty, cold, icy, just blah.  It's one of those months we just want to get through.  That's what adult me thinks.  Little girl me loved one particular February day - Valentine's Day.  I just loved the classroom Valentine's Day parties that were held in my elementary school.  Before we could have the party, we had to create the large Valentine "mailbox" from which all the Valentines could be "mailed," retrieved and passed out among the classmates.  This creation usually occurred the day or so before Valentine's Day during art class.  We were fortunate enough then to have an art teacher come and help us make our mailbox.  And to add to the fun, each student would bring a shoebox and make his or her own small personal Valentine box to take home.  This box would be full of the Valentines we would receive.  Making the Valentine mailbox and smaller box was my favorite activity of the celebration.  Mrs. Perry, our art teacher, would bring lots of art supplies from which we could create the most beautiful boxes.  The larger mailbox was always a team effort.  It was always completely covered with tissue paper, doilies, different sized red construction paper hearts, and other tidbits Mrs. Perry had brought for us.  After we tackled the large mailbox, we would work on our personal boxes.  Of course, glue ended up everywhere - no glue sticks then, and there would always be a kid or two who felt the need to eat a little glue along the way.  We could decorate our boxes as much or as little as we wanted.  I was always so proud of my box and loved to admire my handwork.  Next came the mailing of Valentines.  Each kid would go up front and put his/her Valentines into the large mailbox.  There would be assigned "mailmen" to pass them out later.  We would then have a foodfest.  Some of the room mothers would bring in fantastic treats - heart shaped pink cakes and red Kool-Ade. Whoa!!!!!  A kid's dream!!!!  After we feasted, the Valentine's were passed out.  I remember one particular year I sat in my seat, excitedly collecting Valentines from my classmates and I opened one envelope.  BAM!!!!!!  WHAT THE WHAT????  Some jackass kid had dared to print "I love you" on the back of the Valentine!!!!  The shock!!  The horror!!  The anger!!!  My face blazing, I took that card and stuffed it in my box.   My mother always enjoyed going through the Valentines with me when I got home and seeing that little message would have brought forth a bombardment of misery from her, her friends and our relatives. I had spent the previous Saturday afternoon choosing the perfect Valentine for each kid - the girls got the pretty, sparkly ones and the boys got the lower tiered, blah cards and I was NOT going to let this stupid boy upset the societal balance I had fabricated.  I realized I needed to act quickly.  I looked all around and saw that each kid was completely absorbed in his/her own sugar fueled heart shaped madness.  I was safe.  I took that card and tore it to pieces.  Better safe than sorry.  Better to break one boy's heart than to endure any mention of this "love" by an adult.  Times were tough.  He should have used chocolate, not words.