Hey Sugar Lips! You Rock!

Do you despise Valentine's Day? It seems more and more people hate it these days.

Me, I'm not a Valentine's Day hater. Not a lover of the day, but not a hater either. I just try not to take it too seriously.

And really, how can I take it seriously with a pile of conversation hearts sitting on my desk?

As I chomped on the "Sugar Lips" heart, I tried to remember my first real experiences with Valentine's Day. By real, I mean that I wasn't taking a Valentine with a cartoon character on it to school.

It was taking me forever to remember my formative Valentine years so I decided to have another conversation heart. While biting into the "You Rock" heart, one of my colleagues got a bouquet of flowers delivered to her. Ah-ha! The memories suddenly came rushing back. You see, the last and only time I got a really gigantic bunch of roses on Valentine's Day was in high school.

In my sophomore year of high school, my friend Tanisha's brother liked me and I liked him too. It could have been a happy ending...except for the fact that I wasn't allowed to go out on dates or have a boyfriend. He was an "unofficial" boyfriend, if you know what I mean. He was the boy I only saw when I went to my friend's house. To top it off, he was an "older man". If I remember correctly, he was a sophomore in college at the time.

Valentine's Day rolled around and he showed up at my high school with at least two dozen red roses. Everybody around me oohed and aahed over this. But I was not so happy. In fact, I was mentally freaking out. Not because this guy gave me flowers. No, I was freaking out because I knew I was going to have to get rid of those flowers before I got on the school bus at the end of the day. There was absolutely no way I could go home to the most strict parents on the planet and say, "Hey, look who gave me roses today!"

I couldn't give the roses away at school because I knew my friend would tell her brother. So, I remember hastily stuffing them in my locker and then, I threw the flowers in the trash right before I jumped on the bus. He called me and asked me how I liked the flowers. I don't remember what I told him but I know that was the beginning of the end of whatever little crush he had on me, and vice versa.

It sounds sad, and it is a bit sad, but I still don't hate Valentine's Day. I just have to keep it all very light-hearted and not take it seriously. I mean after all, if there are small, heart-shaped bits of candy that say "You Rock!" on them, how serious can it be?

I hope you take a moment out of your haterade to eat some conversation hearts. If you didn't, come on, you have to seize the moment! Just do it quickly because I think there's an unwritten rule that a candy heart with the phrase " Soul Mate" on it is only cute and romantic on or around February 14th. I have a feeling that if you decide to eat these in July, everyone's going to look at you like you're crazy.

Comments

What a darling post! I loved your definition of a "real" Valentine as one w/o a cartoon character on the front.

Oh, those were the days. I think we must have had the same parents because when I was 13, I got 3 heart-shaped boxes of chocolate and was grounded for life because my parents thought I must be giving out free samples of something else. (I wasn't.)

Where are those boxes of chocolate now, when I really need them?
West said…
This year was the first time, in a long time, that I've thought about the lil Valentine's Day, Jr. rituals from elementary school.

It's funny that parents would buy a bunch of cards and have their kids indiscriminately pass'em out (although some discriminated quite well).

Sadly, I don't remember much about Valentine's Day in high school.
Dena said…
i'm with west. i don't recall any fond high school memories surrounding valentine's day.
however, going back a little bit further....i do remember buying these UGLY homemade v-day cards from other students in junior high. we would address them, then sign them and then the cards would be hand delivered to that person. after school, i remember sitting with my friends and counting how many we received, like it was some popularity contest!
none said…
I'm not a fan of the day, I remember it being uncomfortable handing put the litle valentines in grade school. It always scared me when I would get one that was a little too mushy.
Liz,

I'm sort of in the middle on the holiday myself. I did consider buying a box of cartoon cards for me coworkers, though. Fortunately a huge dump of snow kept me from having to worry about it.

I eat conversation hearts all year long. And, yes, people think I'm creepy.
Unknown said…
I've always thought those candy hesrts taste like pepto bismal but they sure are cute.
Liz Dwyer said…
HISF,
My parents must have been telekinetically connected to yours because I'm pretty sure mine were thinking the exact same thing...even though I wasn't giving anything out either!

Ah, chocolate! I got a big box of yesterday but I haven't opened it yet.

West,
I don't remember too much from Elementary school but I know kids take Valentine's Day pretty seriously nowadays. My eldest son has been talking about it like it's Christmas. As for me, I remember high school V-day's very vividly...wish I could forget half of those memories though, you know?

Dena,
Oh yes, it WAS a popularity contest!!! Then in college, it turns into buying a V-day advertisement to post in the school paper, as in, "Antoinette, you rock my world! Love, Mike." Then Antoinette can show all her friends. Do we ever move past the point of popularity contests in our lives?

Hammer,
Good thing I deleted the mushy comment I was going to post on your site yesterday!

MT,
Hey, sugar is sugar, whether it comes in the form of a conversation heart or something else. I wonder though, do you buy them year-round or do you stock pile them at Valentine's Day and save them? Alas, I have no snow drifts to blame for not getting my colleagues any Valentine's stuff.

Seventh Sister,
Welcome and thanks for visiting! I've never had Pepto Bismal before so I'll have to take your word for it. ;0
velvet said…
I went to an all-girls high school, so those were really low pressure kinds of days. Thank goodness.

That's a shame about the roses and your friend's brother.

-velvet

Popular Posts