Poor old Charlie Brown. How many times did he go to the mailbox in hopes of finding a valentine from the little red-haired girl that he had a crush on, but every time he checked, the mailbox was empty? Poor old Charlie Brown. I think he would have settled for any valentine from anyone, but his heart was always broken. Maybe the postal service misplaced his valentines.
Luckily, we never had to suffer through the agony that Charlie Brown went through. At our rural school, everyone received valentines. I recently saw a photo of some of those cutout valentines from the 1950’s. They were just like the ones I remember giving and receiving. There were usually around twenty students at Smith School and we gave a valentine to each student.
Ma would buy a pack of cards that contained many different designs. If I remember right, they only had printing on one side, and each card was die-cut around the design. The guys got generic verses from us, but we took special care in picking out the design and verse for the girls. It wasn’t a big deal when you were younger, but the older you got, the more important the right card was, especially if it was for a girl you liked. If you wanted, you could write an endearing message on the blank side, such as: Roses are red, violets are blue, you walk like a duck and you quack like one too. You have to understand that a derogatory poem or message on the card meant that you liked that person. Confusing, isn’t it?
At school, each of us decorated a shoebox and cut a slit in the top. On Valentine’s Day, each person put the card they had picked out for that person into their box. Remember, those individual cards didn’t come with envelopes. You had to be careful in delivering your valentines because you didn’t want anyone else to see what kind of card you’d picked out for someone. In a small school, everyone knew who each person liked or didn’t like, so I don’t know why it had to be such a big secret. There were no secrets in rural schools. I guess it was all part of the game we played. You never wanted to come right out and say you liked someone. We always had to beat around the bush, and pretend we didn’t care.
After we got home from school we opened our decorated valentine’s box and examined our cards. This was usually done in secret, although Ma always had to see our cards too. I’d try to analyze the cards from the girls to see if it looked like any of them liked me. The design of each card and the message were checked out. It was like symbologist Robert Langdon in The De Vinci Code trying to decipher the codes as he searched through cryptic messages.
Just like good old Charlie Brown, my heart was crushed if a girl I liked gave me a very generic card or wrote a cryptic message that I walked like a duck. I have to admit, I was very pigeon-toed when I was in grade school. It’s one of those wonderful genes I inherited. Luckily, that got corrected when I broke my leg in football. Just because you get a bad “break” in life, doesn’t mean that something good can’t come out of it. But, if I was pigeon-toed, why did they say that I walked like a duck? They should have said, “you walk like a pigeon and you coo like one too.” That would have made more sense. I think even Robert Langdon would have a hard time sorting through all the clues in our valentines.
Life becomes very confusing for young boys when they begin to discover an attraction toward girls who had just been school playmates up until that time. Most of us would pretend we didn’t like a girl even if our heart was racing when we were around her. It must be a guy thing. When we chose up sides for a game, we always picked the object of our infatuation, while loudly denying that she was a girlfriend when teased about her. There seems to be an innocence and excitement in youth that’s often lost, as we get older.
Another piece of the valentine puzzle is candy. Do you remember those little heart-shaped candies with words on them? They’ve been a part of Valentine’s Day since the Civil War and they’re still as much a part of the day as flowers and chocolate candy. You can buy and sort through the various messages until you find just the right ones to give to the girl you’re sweet on.
Here’s a side of the valentine puzzle you may not have heard about. In the Middle Ages it was felt that birds chose their mates on February 14th. So that day has been considered the official mating day for centuries. I guess I better keep an eye on our birds on Valentine’s Day and see if there’s any truth in that story.
Another thing to think about as we decode the valentine puzzle; if roses are so symbolic of romance and love, then why the thorns?
One more thing, when you get your valentine card this year, don’t try to decode the message, just enjoy it!
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