Second Grade Valentine’s Day Story
For Valentine’s Day, every student spent the morning making a heart shaped folder out of paper, then taping it over the side of their desk. After lunch recess, everyone got out their cards they made at home and dropped them in each other’s heart shaped folder. When I saw her drop a card into mine, it took every ounce of restraint I could muster for me to stop what I was doing, dig through my pile of cards, and take hers out.
But I finished handing my cards out, then along with the rest of the class, sat down in my seat. Our teacher said opening could commence, and the sound of second grade hands tearing open paper and crunching stale, chalky Valentine’s Day candy filled the room. I saw hers, pulled it out and set it aside, deciding I would open it last.
For her, I had a special card, and when I say special I mean the biggest one in the box. I don’t remember what it said or what kind of design it had on it. All I remember is it was the biggest card in the box of cards my mom purchased for me at the local drug store. Because was the biggest, I thought it was the best and because she was the girl I liked more than anyone in class, she deserved the largest card in the box. This may sound silly, but to a second grader in love, nothing made more sense.
As I finished off the last of my candy and disposed of the opened envelopes scattered on my desk, I stared at her still unopened card sitting in the corner of my desk. Then I grabbed it, and for a moment, stared at the handwriting on the envelope. She wrote our names in pencil, but the handwriting was neat, the message on the front was simple.
To: Jozen
From: The girl of your dreams
I can’t recall if that’s exactly how she wrote it, but she might have well considering my feelings for her. The size of the envelope and the card within was small, much smaller than the card I gave to her, but I didn’t care. As I already knew back then, it was what’s on the inside that counts.
My hope was the inside of the card said, “Be mine” or something along those lines, but as it turns out the message was a little craftier.
The card was in the shape of a shelled peanut. I opened it and inside it read: “I’m nuts over you!” Talk about transparency. It was written right there in comic sans black and white, she was nuts over me. I suppressed my excitement, waiting for her to either walk by my desk or when school let out to tell her I felt the same way.
A few minutes later, as all of us were cleaning up the messes we made, she walked past me to the big garbage can where torn paper was being dumped with no regard for recycling whatsoever. I followed her, and when she turned around I, rather smoothly, said, “I’m nuts over you too.”
“What?” she said.
“I’m nuts over you too,” I said.”
“What are you talking about,” she asked
“The card. The one you gave to me,” I replied. “It said ‘I’m nuts over you’ and I wanted to tell you I feel the same way.”
“Oh,” she said. “Yeah. That was just a card, it didn’t mean anything.”
She shrugged her shoulders and walked back to her seat.
