"Would you be a dream on the wings of a poem?"
My first few Valentine's Days (at least, the first few I can remember) were actually pretty nice: those were the kindergarten and early elementary school days, the ones we spent making red paper hearts with white lace and exchanging those little baseball card-like valentines that came in fifty-count boxes. I liked getting so many valentines, even if they were from people I didn't particularly like (and vice versa) - especially if candy was involved. Which it often was. I liked the excitement, the decorations, and the Valentine's Day cake that my mom would always have for us when we came home (she bought cakes for all sorts of occasions). And the Necco candy hearts. I love those.
As we got older, though, Valentine's Day (as do so many other things, unfortunately) lost a little of its magic. Or most of it, rather. The second half of elementary school brought with it Candy-Grams, little paper notes with candy attached that students and staff could send to each other throughout the school. I would always spend a couple of dollars (they were twenty-five cents apiece, I think) to send a few, but I never got any back from those people. Probably because they didn't expect to get any from me, I guess. I mostly remember everyone else getting about a thousand of them (at least then, it seemed like a thousand) and I usually got one or two. One was always from my first grade teacher, Mrs. Marandos (she was my favorite grade school teacher) and, if I was lucky, a second from my current teacher. But only because that teacher somehow felt obliged to send one to every student in her class. At least the one from Mrs. M was just for me, but even then I wondered as to why I never got any from classmates.
...Candy-Grams went by the wayside when I got to Fairgrounds, though, and they were forgotten quickly enough. That was when Valentine's Day began to become less friendly and a little more boy/girlfriendly, and I soon found that it wasn't the same holiday of Spiderman valentines and little rolls of Lifesavers that it had once been. There were still decorations, but only in the school store, and only when they decided to sell roses to boost their sales. At any lunch you went to, you could always find six or seven guys buying as many flowers, and soon thereafter just as many girls to give them to. I always bought only one, though, and it was for my mother. Apparently in junior high, it's not cool to get a flower for your mom. Especially if that's the only one you're buying.
By the time I got to NHS, Valentine's Day was just another holiday of the year, like Arbor Day or Canada Day (yeah, that's a real holiday... there's no America Day, though). I didn't pay it any mind, and to tell the truth, I didn't know what I was missing. There were still notes and cards and flowers, but NHS was a new enough environment and I knew few enough people so that it didn't surround me like it had at FJHS. Last year and the year before it was really only a swiftly passing curiosity, and I think it came and went both times without me really noticing.
This year I do notice, though, and I do know what I'm missing. It's not exactly terrible - although yesterday I swear that if I'd seen one more rose or Hallmark bag, I would have thrown up on myself - but sitting home and watching The Forensic Files on the Discovery Channel and practicing sai swords in my bedroom, I can't help but feel a little lonely. In fact, today would have been a total bust if it hadn't been for a beautiful card I got from Kate in today's mail... it was absolutely perfect. Thank you, chère. As usual, you saved the day. : )
This entry turned out a little longer than I expected... I guess I'm done rambling for now. Leave notes if you want, they'll give me something to do tonight. It's too late to go anywhere or do anything, and I'll be up for awhile.
As we got older, though, Valentine's Day (as do so many other things, unfortunately) lost a little of its magic. Or most of it, rather. The second half of elementary school brought with it Candy-Grams, little paper notes with candy attached that students and staff could send to each other throughout the school. I would always spend a couple of dollars (they were twenty-five cents apiece, I think) to send a few, but I never got any back from those people. Probably because they didn't expect to get any from me, I guess. I mostly remember everyone else getting about a thousand of them (at least then, it seemed like a thousand) and I usually got one or two. One was always from my first grade teacher, Mrs. Marandos (she was my favorite grade school teacher) and, if I was lucky, a second from my current teacher. But only because that teacher somehow felt obliged to send one to every student in her class. At least the one from Mrs. M was just for me, but even then I wondered as to why I never got any from classmates.
...Candy-Grams went by the wayside when I got to Fairgrounds, though, and they were forgotten quickly enough. That was when Valentine's Day began to become less friendly and a little more boy/girlfriendly, and I soon found that it wasn't the same holiday of Spiderman valentines and little rolls of Lifesavers that it had once been. There were still decorations, but only in the school store, and only when they decided to sell roses to boost their sales. At any lunch you went to, you could always find six or seven guys buying as many flowers, and soon thereafter just as many girls to give them to. I always bought only one, though, and it was for my mother. Apparently in junior high, it's not cool to get a flower for your mom. Especially if that's the only one you're buying.
By the time I got to NHS, Valentine's Day was just another holiday of the year, like Arbor Day or Canada Day (yeah, that's a real holiday... there's no America Day, though). I didn't pay it any mind, and to tell the truth, I didn't know what I was missing. There were still notes and cards and flowers, but NHS was a new enough environment and I knew few enough people so that it didn't surround me like it had at FJHS. Last year and the year before it was really only a swiftly passing curiosity, and I think it came and went both times without me really noticing.
This year I do notice, though, and I do know what I'm missing. It's not exactly terrible - although yesterday I swear that if I'd seen one more rose or Hallmark bag, I would have thrown up on myself - but sitting home and watching The Forensic Files on the Discovery Channel and practicing sai swords in my bedroom, I can't help but feel a little lonely. In fact, today would have been a total bust if it hadn't been for a beautiful card I got from Kate in today's mail... it was absolutely perfect. Thank you, chère. As usual, you saved the day. : )
This entry turned out a little longer than I expected... I guess I'm done rambling for now. Leave notes if you want, they'll give me something to do tonight. It's too late to go anywhere or do anything, and I'll be up for awhile.