ghost of valentines past: spreading the love, elementary school style
when i was little, my parents used to make me give a valentine to each classmate. that plus a little box of conversation hearts. or hershey kisses. or those cinnamon red hot hearts.
but i used to see other kids who only gave valentines to their friends or the kids they liked. that bothered me, so i whined "why do i have to give so-and-so (insert name of kid i didn't like) a card"? my parents gently said that i had to be nice to everyone and treat all of my classmates fairly, and that it was the right thing to do, so no one's feelings would get hurt.
so the night of february 13th, i would do the next best thing possible. i would sit there and sort through my charlie brown valentine cards (or were they muppets? sesame street? strawberry shortcake? or ziggy? or bugs bunny? i don't recall). anyway i would pick out the prettiest ones to give to my friends, and i'd set aside the ugly ones for the kids i wasn't crazy about. in the end, everyone got a valentine. fair is only fair.
one year, my mom made cupcakes for me to take to the school valentine's day party. that's when i played favorites. the kid who used to make fun of my eye shape sure didn't get a cupcake from me. what a shame, i guess that was his loss...
