Valentine's Day

Today is Valentine's Day.  I remember the years of elementary school's February 13th nightly ritual:  tearing the perforated pre-made Valentine's Day cards from Walgreen's (not a Montessori child), laboriously but lovingly writing each of the 20-plus names from my class on the cards, selecting the appropriate Snoopy character and saying that should go to each classmate, licking the self-sealing envelope, rewriting the name on the outside, and crossing it off the class list given to each of us from our teacher, no one forgotten.  The next day we would carefully decorate paper bag mailboxes for our Valentine's exchange and walk around the room, passing out our sealed Walgreen's (or Rite-Aid, etc) offerings to one another.  Sometimes candy hearts included.

In the fourth grade I went to a bigger school with a bell schedule and lost the Valentine's Day tradition.  The seasonal tastes of chocolate, candy hearts, and envelope glue faded in my memory.  Being only a mildly celebratory type, I generally haven't conceded to the commercial push of the holiday, but regardless, have been pleasantly surprised when a bouquet of flowers or the like appeared.  Perhaps a nice dinner or an outing to the theatre (emphasis on "theatre").

I imagine this is similar to many people's relation with the holiday.  In Japan it is slightly different;  Christmas is date night.  And Valentine's Day is the day when girls and women give men chocolate, a gesture which is returned a month later on White Day, where men return the advance with white chocolate.  They might also give more substantial gifts than the chocolate received (although there is some really nice chocolate out there!) so perhaps it is worth the woman's patient waiting.  I suppose the optimist envisions an investment where truffels and one month transforms into jewelry and eternal love.    It's hard to know the exchange rates these days; it's all dictated by such unknowable things as the alignment of the stars and the chocolate industry.  

Today at HPAC many people brought chocolate to share with everyone, a happy though strange mix of my elementary school days and the received male obligation of Japanese culture.  But if two disparate worlds are to meet, what better way?  I happily partook, though now I wonder what it will cost me in a month's time.