From first grade to fourth, Valentine's Day was all about trading those lovey-dovey cards to the female students in the class, and usually the fun of it was finding boxes of these cards in the local shopping areas, with the cards featuring familiar cartoons or television shows, or, maybe even your favorite comic book characters!

One of the first I just barely remember picking up were the Tiny Toon Adventures cards, featuring different characters on each one.

At first I thought "shouldn't we only give one card out?" but as I learned from the concept, since I had all those valentines, all girls could be sent out the cards, and, when looking back in hindsight, wouldn't that mean we're all competing for the best love? Well, we were kids, and we didn't really think farther than that since the day went by fast. However, I had more pondering about this.

I did have a crush on one girl in my neighborhood, but I thought to myself further, "should I be looking for someone better then?" and, some days later, I began asking some of the other girls one by one if they liked me, but not just as a friend.

The school playground felt like a good place to ask them, as to not get in trouble by the teachers while I talked to them by the swings. I did get some compliments, such as being funny, my drawings were loved, but that was about it. Then, I found one girl that wasn't in my class at all.

I thought I would start going to talk to her whenever the chance of recess would happen,  but she would have rather talked about other topical things than my own interests or hers, so I tried the next several days to do so. She did open up to me, but of course, going so far as kissing would take notice of the teachers, and possibly insults from the other students from the visible love I had. But one day, I went in for a cheek kiss.

To my dismay only a couple of students noticed and gasped, but I felt a wave of relief thinking it was going to go bad. Our teachers caught us and then it got the attention of the other students, but instead of a harsh scolding I was just calmly asked to not do it again. Even though I couldn't make the gesture anymore, I still talked to her when I could, but the seasons were changing and we eventually moved up to another grade of school, but not seeing each other anymore. It was the first time I genuinely felt true love, despite an inevitable heartbreak.

By that time, I looked at Valentine's Day as nothing more than a hollow memory, and if cards were to get sent out in the following years, I just felt like I needed to get it done and over with, looking forward to going home, and enjoying my drawings or other hobbies.

Did you have a valentine love that didn't work out? Leave a comment and as always, see you next article!