For as long as I can remember I have been very peculiar about Valentine’s Day cards. It started in Elementary School when we would put valentines in each other’s decorated boxes. It’s nothing like it is now. You would bring in a cereal box with the lid cut off and be given construction paper, glitter, glue, and other decorations to make your box stand out. Throughout the week, kids would bring in their little valentines to put in your box and you’d open them all during the Valentine’s Day party. 

These valentines were your typical boxed valentines with characters on them and an attached sucker. They were not toys or today’s homemade Etsy items. But, each Valentine still had to be chosen with absolute certainty. 

I would go through the cards and read each little catchphrase. 

They were always cheesy. 

It would include little images of Strawberry Shortcake and her dog and say “Valentine, you’re berry cute!” 

However, it would be ones like these that I would be torn on. 

Did I give this to my elementary crush and let him know I thought he was cute? Did I add an extra sucker or sticker to the valentine? Would he even know I thought about it? Should I sign my name on the card or just put it anonymously in his box?  

It would be near bed time and I would still be agonizing over the decision. 

My mom would always encourage me to just give them the card with my name on it. However, I stopped taking her advice after an incident in the fifth grade. 

I had a crush on a boy, and my mom told me if I liked someone I should ask to swap school pictures. 

So, as told, I politely asked this boy on the school playground if he wanted my school picture. 

“No, why would I need your picture? I see it in the yearbook,” he said. 

He was so right! Why would he need my picture? My mom didn’t know anything, and I would never ask her anything again! 

Flash forward to sixth grade. 

I still have a crush on the same boy, only this time the middle school Valentine’s Day Dinner is coming up. 

At the time, I was attending a Baptist school and they didn’t allow dances. So, in place of a Valentine’s Day dance, we had a Valentine’s Day dinner, and people performed on the lunchroom stage a Valentine’s Day mystery. You wore your best dress and the boys wore their church attire. 

A week before the dinner, my crush asked me to go. I was beside myself I was so excited, yes! 

As the days winded down to Valentine’s Day, I could hardly contain myself. 

Then, Valentine’s Day was here. 

We rode the same school bus together. 

I got on the bus and was listening to my iPod when he got on the bus and had a bouquet of roses in his hand. The boys kept asking him who they were for, but he wouldn’t answer. I thought if they were for me, he would give them to me on the bus. So, I figured he must be interested in another girl who already had a date to the dinner. 

The roses sat on the back table in our classroom nearly all day. My heart continued to sink every time I passed them in the classroom. 

What a lucky girl to get those from him. 

The final bell rang, and it was time to gather up our stuff and head back to the bus. 

I was gathering my books at my locker and he came up with the flowers. These are for you he said smiling. 

I couldn’t contain myself. I was so excited! No boy had ever given me flowers. 

Read the card he said. 

I opened a little card with a shoe on it. 

*Happy Valentine’s Day!

It contained a TCBY gift card. 

Just when I thought the flowers couldn’t be any better. This guy signed the card love. He must love me. 

He then asked if I wanted to be his girlfriend. 

What a day! 

Yes, I wanted to be his girlfriend. 

As middle schoolers, being a girlfriend meant walking to class together and maybe sitting at the same lunch table. We didn’t even have cell phones yet. We could possibly chat in the same chat room on our Nintendo DS, but that was as serious as it got. 

We didn’t “date” for long, but Valentine’s Day of 2006 will still live in my mind forever. 

If you’re reading this Jack, thanks for making a girl believe in love so early on, and thanks for still liking me, even after I tried to trade school pictures with you.