The Valentine's Day Card Conundrum...

My first semester here I started a sort of tradition for myself. In February of 2003 I saw a box of cheap elementary school style Valentine's Day cards. I got them just for the heck of it. The next morning I spent at least half an hour thinking about all the girls I knew on campus and labeling my cards for them. I must have given out over 40 cards. I was astounded to see how my very simple gesture was very genuinely appreciated. That little piece of cardboard stock paper made a pretty significant impact.

The following year I got a new stack of Valentine's Day cards and did it again. I upped the ante by giving out candy with each card. It seemed harder for some reason. I realized that pre-writing the cards was too difficult. I had to fish around in my bag to find the right one. The girl would have to stand there awkwardly waiting for me. I still gave out most of them, but it seemed that I just had less girls to give cards to.

Last year I still wanted to give out cards, but I wanted to streamline the procedure some. I decided to write down only my name on each card, carry around a pen and write the names on the cards as I saw the girl. That was a less than best solution. If I didn't see the girl early enough to write the name, they saw me writing their name on the card. Nothing seems to make a girl feel more special than a guy thinking of her on Valentine’s Day only because he happened to run into her. The fact that he thought of her only long enough to write her name on a card is less than flattering. I ended up having a lot less cards given out.

This is my last year on this campus. I got nice shinny SpongeBob SquarePants cards. These were not the $.99 cards. They were nice. I gave out about 10. That’s it. And again, I didn’t write any names on them in advance. And it didn’t matter. I came to a sad realization. I don’t have very many friends any more.

I think living off of campus has limited my stock of friends in more than half. Each semester many friends leave, but usually, I make new ones. I haven’t been able to do that off campus. And I hate to admit this, but I think the lack of the Caf has done the majority of the damage. I don’t miss the food, but I miss the social interaction. I don’t know when I’ll get to use that stack of leftover Valentine’s Day cards I have set aside.

I don’t know where I will be next Valentine’s Day, but I’m pretty sure that I will not buy any more cards. This year I don’t think I disappointed any girls that I did not give cards to, but it disappointed me that I had almost no one to give cards to.