My First Valentine

For some reason, today I was remembering the first time I ever received a  Valentine.  I'm not talking about  Valentines such as the ones we all made for our classmates in school.  I'm talking about a real Valentine from a boy who liked me.

I was in the fifth grade.  He sat behind me in class and could never seem to keep his fingers out of my hair.  He was always touching my hair gently, and to be honest...it gave me the creeps.  I really wanted nothing to do with boys at the time.  I thought they were beyond yucky.  But he was persistant.  He would pass love notes to me in class with the proverbial "Do you love me?  Check yes or no".  I would always check no and give it back.  The next day, I would get the same note again, just in case I had changed my mind.

His name was Chuck, and at the time that was not a cool name to have.  But it matched him, because he was not the coolest boy in the school.  He was one of the boys nobody wanted to hang out with.  He was very plain looking with a pointed nose.  He was tall and lanky, and had little personality.  He made good grades in Science, but pretty much failed his other classes. He wasn't into sports.  His family was poor, and his clothes were a reflection of that.

But for some reason, on Valentine's Day in the fifth grade, he passed me a pink envelope.  This was different from the usual notes he passed me.  I opened it, listening to the snickers of those around me.  And it was a genuine Valentine card.  I'm not talking about one of those cartoon cards.  I'm talking about the kind my dad might have given to my mother.  It was pink with a wreath made of flowers shaped into a heart. I would be lying to say that I wasn't touched at some level by his gesture.  Not only was I the only girl in my class to receive such a card, he didn't care that everyone was laughing at him.  All he seemed to care about was my response.  I remember turning around with a smile, and saying, "Thank you," to him.

After that day, I never saw Chuck in quite the same way.  I guess you could say I had a soft place in my heart for him. I stopped being so ugly to him, and started talking to him.  A couple of months later, Chuck moved away, and I never saw or heard from him again.  But every once in awhile, he will come to my mind.   Today I wonder if there is a lady somewhere  getting a very sweet valentine from a man who most would not suspect as being a romantic.

I smiled to myself.  Life truly isn't always as it seems.  And neither are people