"hapy valentime's day"

it's weird to not be giving a classroom full of kids valentines (or "valentimes," as many of them call them) this year.... i've given out mostly monsters & superheroes cards in past yrs, the simpsons more than once. it's fun to pick them, to address them, to give the extra-special ones to the kids who don't expect them... no kid in my class has ever been left out on v-day (unless religion forbids it): i was the kid who was left out, so i keep my eye on those ones in particular so that they feel someone's rooting for them, too... now that the school district says you can only give students store-bought, "healthy" snacks in schools, i think v-day school parties must be comparatively sad affairs, bereft of homemade frostinged cupcakes, cookies, and cakes dotted with red hots and conversation hearts. poor little kiddies. this standardization trend, including the food that goes into kids' mouths, must end sometime. all big bureaucracies must fall. here's to falling - to the fall of the unchecked powerful, to the falling into love. here's to my valentine, brian, who's one of a kind & has been there for me when i haven't deserved it, & with whom i've learned to be something resembling an adult... sort of... whether you got a special someone today or not, here's to you who read this, too, as well as a homemade valentine. may your life have love, which comes in many forms beyond the romantic (i didn't used to know that). dang, i miss teaching kids... it'll be good to get back.