Valentine’s nostalgia

As a kid, I loved those boxed valentines sold at grocery stores that you fold in half, close with a sticker and address to all of your classmates.

The joy those tiny folded cards brought came from a general enthusiasm for mail of all kinds (that enthusiasm seems to wane somewhat in adulthood when mail becomes bills), a general enthusiasm for stickers, the joy of giving and receiving, and the opportunity to complete an almost-craft project. Then, of course, there are the puns inside the cards.

I do wonder if the logistics of all that card giving was as fun for the teachers as the students. A teacher friend enlightened me recently to the trials and tribulations of zoo field trips for teachers who have a classroom of kids to watch over. According to her, it dampens the enthusiasm for zoos somewhat.

Although I celebrate with fewer cards, my own enthusiasm for Valentine’s Day is long-running and has not waned.

One year in high school, I threw a valentine-making party, complete with hot glue guns and paper hearts. I don’t remember the card I made myself, but I do remember the best homemade valentine at the party. My friend hot glued a strip of faux grass and a plastic pink frog in a dashing red scarf on the front of the card. I’m not sure why there was faux grass in the craft supplies to begin with, but Valentine’s card was a surprisingly excellent way to use the fake miniature lawn.

That same year, our high school choir performed singing valentines. The whole choir class dressed up in pink and red and were paid to visit classrooms throughout the school to serenade people’s crushes. It was quite the upgrade to a typical candygram fundraiser. I don’t know if the sweethearts who bought singing valentine’s felt they got their money’s worth (and I imagine some of the teachers trying to manage their classes were more than a little irritated by the regular interruption of love songs), but the choir students had a great time.

Who doesn’t love a love song?

Around this time last year, plenty of publications posted top love songs of all-time lists. Some of the contenders for greatest love song of all time in 2022 were “Endless Love,” by Diana Ross and Lionel Richie (according to Billboard it was No. 1 for nine weeks in 1981), the Elton John classic “Your Song” (according to smoothradio.com it is the greatest love song of all time and was recorded in a relatively quick session), and “I Will Always Love You,” by Whitney Houston (according to Insider’s rankings. Their article by Kim Renfro claims that the ballad “has transcended its meaning in “The Bodyguard” and become the root of Whitney Houston’s legacy,” and I’m inclined to agree).

Personally, though, I think it’s hard to find a love song better than Bill Withers’s “Ain’t No Sunshine.”

If you’re looking for love songs this weekend, I hear the Albuquerque Jazz Orchestra will be playing at Macey Center Friday night. There’s even a swing dancing workshop before the show.

Or you could celebrate the pinkest of holidays with some of those boxed Valentine’s cards from the grocery store. They’ve gotten even more advanced in the last two decades and come with all kinds of extras—space-themed slime or tiny monster trucks. There are still pun-based sentiments of love and friendship though. Just like love songs, the popularity of puns endures.