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My Funny (Kid) Valentine
Remember those class valentine boxes we decorated with doilies, foil and construction paper hearts back when we were kids? I’m here to tell you they’re still going strong.
This time of year, I always recall the raw thrill of choosing the perfect valentine — from a themed box of 32, plus the big one for Teacher — for each of my classmates. For Robbie, definitely the car one that said, “You drive me wild.” For Jane, the Tarzan one, for obvious reasons. M.B. always got the “best friends” one. Ah, those simpler days. No bouquets to buy; no M&Ms to engrave; no e-greeting viruses to fret over.
This year, my fourth-grader chose a box of 3-D animal valentines. Here’s the funny part: I took a peek into her bag of finished cards, and on the one at the top of the heap, she had written, “To Jarrod: You’re annoying. From Jean.” GASP!
“What’s up with this?” I inquired.
“Well, he is,” she said. “I only wrote that to Jarrod and Allen.”
“Uh, no,” I said. And to her credit, she promptly redid the offensive cards without another word.
Later, curiosity got the best of me, and I nibbed through the rest of her valentines. (Informed parents never hesitate to exercise their right to nib.) On the back of the “I’m wild about you” grizzly bear card, she had written, “To John, From Jean, Your secret admirer.” Well, the wildcat’s out of the bag now!
(Names have been changed to protect the annoying and the admired.)
By the way, fifth grade seems to be the cutoff point for this quaint schoolroom custom. My sixth-grader just took a bag of chocolate hearts to pass out to everyone in his class. But I’m sure one day soon he’ll be buying roses like the rest of us …
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