Heart and Soul

I have more specific memories of Valentine’s Day from grade school than from adulthood. My school made a big deal of Valentine’s Day. Weeks ahead, the teacher would festoon the classroom with red foil hearts and paper streamers.

We, the students, would decorate a special “post box” or collection bag for our valentines. I especially loved using paper doilies. Even as a kid, I loved anything old-fashioned, especially lacy Victorian-style cards with rosy cherubs or pansies or roses. Then, I'd watch as my box filled up with happy little envelopes.

It wasn’t all sweetness and light, though.  Almost every year, a silly valentine card crushed my heart. With a leering hippo on it or insulting words like “Roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you, But the roses are fading, the violets are dead.  The sugar bowl’s empty, just like your head,” their message took deadly aim. Even the boys suffered.

Celebrating Valentine’s Day as an adult reverses the childhood angst for me. My husband and I always observe it. As a singer/guitar player, he usually croons me a love song that night and I buy him a very mushy card.

 Maybe this year, we’ll do a duet, the most famous play-anywhere piano duet ever – Heart and Soul. I didn’t even know it had words until well into adulthood.  Written by Hoagy Carmichal, the first 2 verses go like this:

Quite romantic lyrics for a pound-it-out-on-the-piano song! No matter how you do it, enjoy your Valentine’s Day. Steal a kiss, eat some chocolate or, just like in grade school, celebrate with a little decorating! Check out fun designs like these from FlagsRUs!