Awesome and Uthful

How did the martyrdom of a Christian saint in the 5^th century get connected with those little heart-shaped candies that say “B My Valentine?” (I still remember the illicit thrill I felt when I got one from Francine Badalmenti in 5^th grade!) It’s about as unlikely a connection as any holiday can have and Wikipedia seems as baffled as I am! But there was a Christian holiday in honor of St. Valentine, who was executed by those big bad Romans for performing illegal weddings for soldiers and helping persecuted Christians. There was an additional little story of how he healed the jailor’s daughter and wrote her a farewell note (the first “Valentine”) before marching off to be killed.

Apparently, Chaucer had something to do with associating him with romantic love. With the advent of the troubadours, a day set aside to write to one’s beloved was appealing. And then came the flowers and hearts and chocolates— and Hallmark.

As noted last entry, for me it’s mostly an excuse to teach and sing some songs written about love. It has proved to be a fertile theme—only some 10 million to choose from!

The highlight of my Valentine’s Day? Two cards from two students.

A first grader:

Dering to have fun

Awesome

Uthful

Graet

It warms my heart to know that "Daug" is awesome, graet and oh, so, uthful. (Truthful?) And I love “dering to have fun.” It does take some bravado to commit oneself to genuine fun.

The fifth grader:

“Your teaching is the best! I think you could make it on Broadway with your talent!”

But do Broadway stars get Valentine cards like these? I'll stick with teaching.

PS Thanks to the superior intelligence of my Facebook friends, it seems like she was aiming for "youthful." Good enough for me! The original posted below: