(Innocence + Absurdity + Silent Hierarchy
I figured we’d kick things off with a holiday that everyone pretends is about romance… but every kid knows the truth.
Valentine’s Day – wasn’t candlelight and roses — it was construction paper, sugar highs, and the social experiment known as The Classroom Valentine Exchange.
It was a shoebox. A stack of perforated cards from the drugstore. And the quiet math every kid did in their head.
You knew exactly where you stood by the shoebox you brought in. The kid with the 13D steel‑toed men’s boot box? Royalty.
That thing could hold a week’s worth of mail and a small pet.
The rest of us were taping hearts onto tissue boxes that collapsed under the weight of three chalky candy hearts and a Garfield card.
Our classes had 60 kids in a classroom. Sixty. Half the time we didn’t even recognize the names we were writing. “Who is Brian M.? Do we have a Brian M.? Has he been here all year?”
And being Greek added a whole extra layer of tragedy. While everyone else was breezing through names like Tom, Ann, and Lisa, I was over there praying for the souls of kids like poor Bill — Vassilikos Konstantinopoulos‑Menastramouplakis.
And by the time we finished, the names weren’t even legible. Just loops, lines, and whatever letters our cramped little fingers could still manage.
Childhood hierarchy, right there in cardboard form.
Valentine’s Day was messy, funny, awkward, and real — long before it became a holiday for adults. But there was something sweet about it too.
The kid who carefully chose which card went to which person. The one who signed every card with a heart. The one who pretended not to care but absolutely cared. The one who brought the good candy. The one who brought raisins. (There’s always one.)
Yea…Valentine’s Day can be messy, and maybe that’s why I’ve always had a complicated relationship with it.
But here’s what I do love:
The idea of making someone feel seen. The idea of sharing something small and sweet. The idea of sitting at a table with someone you care about — even if that someone is yourself.
So whether your Valentine’s Day looks like a shoebox overflowing or a paper bag with a few thoughtful cards, I hope it includes something warm, something delicious, and something that makes you feel cared for.
Even if that care comes from your own kitchen and even if the raisins still haunt you.
-Despina Manos 
Happy V Day y’all!
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