Paper Boxes, Paper Hearts

The lovely, old elementary school I attended

As an elementary school student, I rode the school bus to a lovely, old two-story, brick school with a belfry. Children from throughout our rural neighborhood, as well as those from within walking distance, formed the small student body in that lovely old building. 

The school stood on a lot the size of a city block. There was a big field for running, a playground for swinging, an asphalt area for jump roping or playing hopscotch, and a big sledding hill. The grounds were plentiful with trees, ideal for incorporating into our imaginative recess games or for scooping up autumn leaves to make into leaf forts or houses.

Among my favorite elementary school memories from those simpler times was the making of Valentines for our parents and the decorating of shoe boxes to hold the Valentines we would receive from our classmates. 

Valentines for our mommies and daddies were usually fashioned of red construction paper carefully traced and cut into heart shapes with little scissors. A heart-shaped paper doily would often be glued to the construction paper as the next step. Then, we would select small squares of tissue paper in various pastel hues and, using the blunt eraser end of our pencils, carefully wrap the tissue squares around the end of the pencil to form little flowers. The flowers would be glued into place with a spreader dipped into school paste. Sometimes, those little tissue flowers would form yet another heart on top of the doily. A "Happy Valentine's Day" message spelled to the best of our abilities in crayon would finish off our creations. 

Decorating a shoe box to hold the Valentines from our classmates was another enjoyable and much-anticipated classroom art project. Using wrapping paper and construction paper, along with more doilies and tissue paper flowers, we created vessels to hold those precious Valentines selected for us by our little friends. Sometimes, the Valentines would be handmade, while at other times they were purchased in a store. The handmade ones were always a favorite.

When was the last time you made a Valentine? Might this be the year to make such a gift from the heart?

Loving Life

February is the month of love. Often I associate that love with romance, but this month, this year, I'm broadening my February view to a love of life. Mid-last month, a message on a daily calendar I had received as a gift, read: "Do more than exist...live, do more than touch...feel, do more than look...observe, do more than read...absorb, do more than hear...listen...." We are each given only so many days in our lives. How can I take my precious allotment of days and embrace all of the good that can come from them? How do I contribute to that goodness for myself and others? It's so easy in our day-to-day lives to simply exist, rather than to live; to be so preoccupied as to only touch, not feel; to be so impatient as to only look, rather than to observe; to be so distracted by the many simultaneously bombarding messages that enter our lives these days that we only read, not absorb; and to be so sure of our opinions that we only hear, instead of listen. This February, I will dedicate time each day to slowing down, being intentional and focused, reflecting on the blessings in my life and paying those blessings forward by showing kindness as much as possible to others (even in the smallest of ways). It's a gift to have this life. In appreciation, I will love every minute of it.

Going All Moony

My 2014 calendar indicates that tomorrow is not only Valentine's Day; it's a full moon.  When I read that calendar entry, I smiled, for what better evening to have a full moon than on Valentine's Day? On that traditional day and evening of expressing love and affection for another, it seems appropriate to me that it also be one when we can "go all moony." We can daydream and moon over a special someone and consider it justified.  There is nothing so intoxicating than to be in love, especially when that love is new.  One's surroundings seem blurred, as if in a dream, making the sky seem brighter, the scents sweeter, the jokes funnier, the possibilities grander, the world better. But, there is something even more enchanting to me about love that is no longer new.  There is comfort in a love that has seen some seasons. When love has matured, it has been through some tumbles and still stands firm.  It is deeper and built on commitment and steadfastness. So, whether love is new or not so new anymore, tomorrow's Valentine's Day full moon will be a great opportunity to "go all moony" over the one you love.

Queen of Hearts

I got my husband a quirky Valentine featuring Alice in Wonderland's Queen of Hearts on the cover.  The inside of the card was blank, which gave me all kinds of opportunity to write a silly Queen of Hearts-theme message to my beloved.  On this Valentine's Day, I think about hearts and how often I know I wear mine on my sleeve, how much I lead by my heart (as well as my head), how often I've felt as if I've suffered from a broken heart, and how much I care about the health of my physical heart (as well as my husband's).  To celebrate the day, I attempted to replicate the heart trees that Mom used to make when I was a child.  A clear canning jar filled with curly willow is now trimmed with red construction paper hearts traced with a pencil and a cookie cutter.  The arrangement graces our dining room table, making me smile every time I pass by it.  So, although I don't believe I bear many of the traits of Lewis Carroll's "Off with her head!" character, if just for today, I'll call myself a Queen of Hearts.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Take Heart

It's February, also known to many as Heart Month.  It's that month when we lead with our hearts and express what's in our hearts by giving those we love a special Valentine.  It's also the month when we are reminded to take care of our hearts for our health's sake.  It's disturbing to know that today's children are developing conditions that were once relegated to their elders, conditions that could easily lead to full-blown heart disease as they become adults.  As a little girl, I had no awareness, no concerns about heart disease.  Each February, I was only concerned about giving and receiving Valentines at my school.  My elementary school was an old, two-story building in the center of large grounds that provided wondrous opportunities for recess play.  The classes were all small.  My grade had as few as a dozen children in it some years.  We were all close, so Valentine's Day was very special.  I can vividly remember taking great effort to select just the right paper Valentines for my classmates and then carefully printing messages on them in pencil to each child.  We spent time in class making Valentines for our parents made of red and pink construction paper, paste, small pieces of tissue paper folded over pencil tops to make little flowers, and messages lovingly written -- and often misspelled -- in crayon.  Some years, we even had access to little candy hearts with messages on them to paste onto our Valentines, those heart candies that say "Be Mine" and other sweet things.  My mom used to make a Valentine tree -- a tree branch painted white with her nurse's shoe polish, then decorated with red construction paper hearts.  Those are the kinds of things I would wish for today's children -- a healthy heart and a heart filled with anticipation and joy for the love expressed on Valentine's Day.