Valentine’s

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor

Have you gotten your special someone a Valentine’s Day present yet? Don’t feel bad if you haven’t. Just stop by Walmart or Walgreens or Kroger today and I assure you there will be dozens of other folks (most, but not all of them guys) doing some last-minute shopping, either by design or by virtue of having forgotten until sometime earlier in the day that they best not show up empty-handed.

Not me. I took care of my Valentine’s Day duties several days ago, getting my wife one of those Edible Arrangements, with the cohocolate-covered fruit and such. I started that tradition several years ago, and nowadays I can just go on their web site and choose which arrangement I want.

Honestly, I’ve never been a huge Valentine’s Day guy. Sure, some of that is due to it being the day after my anniversary but

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most of it is because it just feels a little forced. I also think it’s a little awkward for a holiday that not everyone can really celebrate. If you don’t have someone in your life, I imagine it can be a pretty depressing day, especially if you’re just a couple of months away from having a depressing holiday season.

Maybe we should treat Valentine’s Day like we used to when we were kids… Your teacher gave everyone a list of all the kids in your class and you just got a Valentine for everyone. Sure, you might get a little something extra for your best friends or that first crush (if you were brave), but no one got left out.

One of my favorite schoolday memories comes from a Valentine’s Day party. In the 5th grade, we were all supposed to decorate a showbox and cut a little hole in the top to bring to school. And during the party, we would go desk to desk putting our Valentine cards we had brought for our classmates in the boxes.

Well, the night before, when I went to make my box, we were completely out of tape, glue and/or paste. My Mom, ever resourceful, helped me out by using Quality Stamps, which, in case you’re unfamiliar with them, are these little adhesive stamps you got from the store that you could save up and cash in for merchandise. The next day, no one was the wiser… except my teacher, who just smiled.