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Valentine's Day

                            by Beth Alexander Walsh

     My earliest memory of Valentine’s Day was at the Gleason School in Medford, Massachusetts in the early 70’s. The celebration would start with crafting cards several days before the 14th. It was always a good day when the scissors, construction paper and paste glue came out. This is where I first learned the trick of folding the paper and cutting out only half a heart and magically unfolding to a perfect symmetrical whole heart. For added drama we were given white paper doilies to simulate lace. I’m pretty sure just about every homemade card that went home had the word MOM printed somewhere in crayon or marker. Dads didn’t seem to rate the red hearts, lace and X’s and O’s. Next, we would decorate a paper lunch bag with our names for all the valentines we would collect from other students. We had the choice of making our cards or buying them. I always wanted store bought.

    The trip to Woolworths to purchase the cards was also exciting. There were the generic cards with pictures of boys and girls or animals holding up hearts with “Be Mine” written on them. Also available were the cartoon characters from Looney Tunes and Scooby-Doo along with Disney favorites Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp and Minnie, Mickey, Pluto and the gang. My favorite of the cards was Snoopy and I remember purchasing them several years in a row. I would lay out all the cards on the kitchen table, carefully picking out which card would go to which student, making sure my best friends and secret crushes always got the best. Then, I would write the names on the envelopes in my best handwriting and stack them in piles to be held together with rubber bands.

     Valentine’s Day was not the extravaganza that kids enjoy today. There was no party. There were no cupcakes to be eaten or candy attached to every card. In fact, you didn’t necessarily have to give a valentine to every student in the class.  At the end of the school day, the lunch bags were lined up at the back of the room and one by one we would distribute the cards. There were always a few kids whose bags were overflowing with valentines and unfortunately other bags that only contained a few. I was always grateful to be somewhere in the middle. When the school bell would ring, we would collect our bags with our winter hats, coats and mittens. I would open mine immediately on the bus, hoping my Special Valentine had also thought of me.