Valentine’s Day Through The Years

When we were young children, Valentine’s Day meant decorating brown paper bags with hearts cut from red construction paper. The night before the big day we signed our names on commercially made tiny greeting cards to exchange with classmates. My parents made sure I had one for every student in my class. Nobody would be left out.

On Valentine’s Day, we had a party in the classroom. While teachers distributed treats sent by mothers of the little darlings, the students exchanged their cards. Before going home, everyone counted and compared the number of valentines they received. Unfortunately, not all of the students brought enough for everyone. There were some who found only a handful in their decorated bags.

Preparation For Future Holidays

One might say that this was preparing them for celebrations of the same holiday in the future. As we passed through higher classes, the number of cards exchanged decreased until only an honest love interest received one. The earlier crushes were left behind.

Valentine’s Day in high school was for those who were going steady. The unattached were left lonely. The difference between them was the same as the difference between the rich and the poor. The ones who were in a relationship were rich. The rest, the lonely, were the poor.

These Are Rarely Permanent

Rarely do these high school romances turn into life long marriages. After graduation, life has a way of moving everyone down different paths. Some who start the journey together will find themselves on different roads later. As teenagers mature into adults, sometimes the old loves don’t match maturity levels.

Love is intended to be like this. We should experience our first heartbreaks while we are still young. Breakups are hard at any age, but while we are young, it is easier to recover. Our high school date on Valentine’s Day is seldom the same date we have on Valentine’s Day five years later.

Hopefully, we finally meet “the one.” This lover is everything we ever wanted, all that we dreamed of. Every holiday is a reason to exchange words and gifts of love. But, the holiday for lovers is even more reason to go crazy with expressions of love and desire.

If this truly is “the one,” as time goes by the holidays will not be as important as the days spent together. Responsibilities of life steal too many hours together. Jobs get in the way of special days. So do sick kids and financial difficulties.

Valentine’s Day in the early years is practice for true love in our later years. We don’t need a special day to do little things for the ones we love. Every day should be Valentine’s Day when you are in love. Instead of exchanging cards, we perform acts of love. It might be bringing him a beer when he’s watching the game, or giving her a back rub when she’s feeling down.

After all, what is a valentine but a way to say “I love you?”