Forever Alone?
It’s February 15th – and by now it’s all over – we all know if we got any cards or if (as was usual in my case – see the picture – that’s me as a teenager. Not surprising huh?) we didn’t. I always think that Valentine’s Day is a triumph of hope over experience. None of the boys we fancy ever bother, and the cards we get usually come from our dads. And it still needs to be cards, not just Facebook messages or BBMs. There’s something about getting a real, CARD card, one where we can run our fingers over the pen marks and wonder (and hope) who it was from. And they so rarely come.
But every year we go through it all again, pouring over shop cards, wondering whether getting something from Moonpig marks you out as a stalker, and using our best ninja skills to find out his address. Did you risk delivering by hand and save the price of a stamp? What if they saw you? I do remember one Valentine’s Day eve sneaking up to a house to discover with horror that there was a long, noisy gravel path and the lights on in the sitting room right next to it. Nightmare. But worst of all is the message – what can you actually say to this boy who has been the centre of all your fantasies for weeks/months/years? You don’t want to be slushy or soppy, but you have to say something, unless you cop out with the unimaginative ‘?’. What to write in a Valentine card is one of the hardest writing assignments of the year.
I’d love to know how many boys actually bought and posted a card. I asked my teenage son, and his instant response was that none – not a single one – of his friends had sent (or were admitting to sending) a card. He looked quite offended that I’d even thought to ask. I bet they rather like getting them though!
I did once get a valentine card from a boy. He’d designed it himself on the computer and printed it out to post to me. It was very nicely done and I hadn’t a CLUE who it was from! I spent months puzzling over it, whilst being secretly thrilled to have a REAL secret admirer. My flatmate told me about a year lat that it had been from a (boy) friend of hers, who’d come to stay with us once and fancied me. I was stunned – I’d had no idea! But it was lovely and imaginative.
Oh, and I did have another card once (when I was still at school) – the boy had put in the Ace of Hearts from a pack of cards, really clever! So I think boys CAN be sweet and imaginative when they want to be, they probably just don’t tell anyone!
Your boys were rather better trained than the ones I knew then! Mind you, looking at those flares I’m not surprised that I didn’t get van-loads of cards. Tragic!
Hi there Sue. I didn’t get anything this year, not even a happy Valentines.
I do miss having someone but then, if I had someone, I couldn’t write and read as much as I do!
(They’d always text and call me and throw me off! XD)
That’s definitely the way to look at it – we can’t afford for you to stop writing!
My boarding school does a special delivery service (raising money for charity too), where you can buy a card, a single rose or a bunch of eleven* and have them delivered, with a secret message (written in someone else’s handwriting), in the middle of class. About half of the boys in my house sent them – no shortage of romantic lads here!
* We have lots of Russian students, and it’s unlucky to give gifts in even numbers – so no dozen roses at our school.
Impressive! The trick is clearly to make it easy for them – even easier I guess if they can just put it on the bill! I won’t tell my daughter – she and her friends would get very depressed to hear that.
Our Family, Mum/Dad/Brother/Me, always celebrate it as a family day, not just boyfriends/girlfriends. We have chocolates for breakfast put roses on the table and make each other cards….