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Looking over the pre-packaged valentines to be distributed to my classmates, I remember reading the greetings and illustrations on each one, picking the good ones for my friends, the seemingly stupid sounding ones for those I disliked and of course, the best valentine went to the boy I had a crush on that week.
Since my sister and I often picked out our valentines in the same shopping trip, a fight sometimes ensued. What if I wanted the kitten themed valentines this year, Gina?!
Even with the fighting siblings sometimes do, Mom always got her "sweethearts" something special too, whether it was chocolate or something small. These are the things I remember about Valentine's Day.
This year, I browsed the Valentine's Day cards again, reading all of them and deciding none of them really fit what I wanted to say. Of course, unwilling to make my own Valentine's Day card, I settled for one off the shelf.
I bought my significant other some white t-shirts and a nice button up dress shirt for work this year for Valentine's Day. I told him his gifts were "practical."
I tried asking him what restaurant he wanted to go to but he wasn't sure. So we'll probably end up spending Valentine's Day at home with a bottle of wine instead.
Oddly enough, Valentine's Day doesn't seem to have the appeal it did when I was a kid. It seemed special then, unlike the way everyone portrays it now.
Society today says, "Chocolate!" "Roses!" "Fancy Dinner!" but what happened to the crafty Valentine's Day boxes we made in school, the hours we spent making sure everyone got the right valentine, how it wasn't expected of you to pull out all the stops for the best Valentine's Day ever?