All throughout my grade school years, Valentine's Day was built around a shoe box of love. Each kid would decorate his/her box in red and white and pink construction paper, hearts flowing, then slit an opening in the lid for valentine delivery.
The night before the big day at school, I'd get all my assorted cards in a row and decide which friend would get which card. The better the friend, the bigger the card and sweeter the message, of course. A so-so friend got a smaller card with a fairly generic message. I never left anyone out. Everyone in the class, even creepy boys I couldn't stand, would get a card from me.
Teachers would allow us time to make the rounds with the valentines to make deposits in the shoe boxes. At the end of the day, we'd bust into them and read our cards. We girls, being catty and materialistic, would then count and compare what we received. Whomever had the most cards and biggest cards had bragging rights. Queen of Hearts.
The older we got in grade school, the less inclined the boys were to participate in this annual ritual of love. This didn't make the "heartless" among us girls very happy. By junior high, the whole valentine delivery deal was just a sweet memory of the past. Giving valentines was only for little kids. We were too mature for such childish activities....but secretly I wished I was a kid again, decorating a shoe box.
Happy Valentine's Day!!
3 comments:
Decorating the shoe box was the best part...I can't wait until Kenley can start doing that.
Thanks for writing about this. It has been a long time. I did love making those boxes, with paper, pipe cleaners, and sparkles. Always waiting for a good one from that special boy. Only to get one he just signed his name to. *sigh*
Gee. I didn't know kids your age did the shoe box gig. Do schools still allow such things? I suppose that by now there is a rule against it. We wouldn't want some dopey girl like me to get her feelings hurt if she didn't get enough valentines. It might destroy her self-esteem for the rest of her life! Right? --Big Bore and I are headed out to Toronto Lake. Should be a good day for hiking in the timbers.
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