Ah, Valentine's Day. The day has always conjured images of chocolate, flowers and good tidings.
Well, maybe not always. As a senior in college, one roommate and I were devoted singles, determined not to let the campus lovebirds have the day to themselves. We weren't bitter about being single, but didn't want those who had a "significant other" to think themselves any more special than the rest of us who were happy singles. So we dressed in black and went through campus armed with Nerf dart pistols.
A bit juvenile? Probably. But it was fun, and I don't think we actually made anyone angry. We didn't shoot at anyone we didn't think would return the darts, and it's given us a good chuckle in the years since.
Now, though, I see Valentine's Day through the eyes of my children and how, with a son and daughter, the day has been different for them every year.
Justin, now 14, was always the "let's-buy-Valentines-at-the-store-and-sign-them-the-night-before" kind of kid, picking out the Spiderman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Harry Potter Valentines until he eventually ran out of interest.
Kimberly, however, now 11, initially followed her brother's lead and opted for the store-bought Valentines; then we ran into a magazine article detailing how much fun you can have making your own Valentines for classmates. We made Valentine "fish" out of pink and red construction paper hearts one year, Valentine conversation heart cookies another year, and heart-shaped felt "suckers" that you glued actual suckers to another year. Her Valentines quickly stopped being the "leave-it-to-the-last-minute" variety.
Then, of course, came the Valentine receptacles; Justin's, not surprisingly, was usually a marker-colored paper bag -- the faster he could get it done, the better. Kimberly's was always a production: old shoebox covered in white construction paper, and then littered with cut-out hearts in varying sizes and colors. For my daughter, Valentine's Day was a week in the making.
Now the kids are older and no longer trade Valentines at school, but I still find myself looking for "just the right thing" for them every year, something I have in common with the the people I talked to at Simply Divine this week -- many talked about the "perfect" Valentine they'd either given or received, either from their kids or from their sweetheart. Each response drew an "awwww" from me, and sparked ideas for the future.
Catch Carly next week as she visits the Voice of the Drum Storytelling Festival at the African American Historical Museum and Cultural Center, where she'll be asking people to name the most influential black American.