Be mine. XOXO

When I was a kid, Valentine's Day was an actual holiday. I mean, we ate candy, had a party at school, people exchanged cards and I usually got a small gift from my mom and dad.

I've created oodles of photo Valentine's Day cards for kids to take to school this year and it's reminded me of the Valentine's card boxes that we used to make. Do you remember the boxes that I'm talking about? The ones that you made by cutting a slot in the lid of a shoe box and decorating it with construction paper hearts, glitter and the occasional magazine clipping? I loved making those boxes. And of course, I had to be very careful about how I filled the valentines out . . . I had to be sure to write "From, Sara" on the boys' valentine's and "Love, Sara" on all of the girls' valentines. There was no love for the boys.

I remember in the second grade when a boy named Billy brought a box of chocolates to class for me on Valentine's Day. No one else. Just me. Seriously, who lets their second grade boy buy a box of chocolates (or any present at all) for a girl in his class for Valentine's Day? I think my face turned bright red as I handed them back to him and simply said, "I'm allergic." Total rejection. Poor kid. But honestly, did I mention that we were in the SECOND GRADE?

I also remember a time when I had finished signing my valentines and my sister was still working on her homework so I offered to fill hers out too. Wasn't that nice of me? Not really, because at the very bottom of the card, below the "To" and "From" boxes, I put this: "*Written by Sara." Asterisk and all. I thought it was only fair that I be recognized for my work. My mom did not see it that way. She made me erase it from the bottom of every single one.

Anyway, happy Valentine's Day! May you experience all that love was really meant to be.