Candy Day

Crystal told me this funny story yesterday about this really fobby guy at her office that told everyone he loved them on Valentine's Day. That reminded me of a question I've had for a while but never remembered to ask anyone: does anyone else think it's weird that in elementary school, you give a valentine to everyone in the class? (I assume this happened at most elementary schools, but if this only happened at Mira Catalina, that would be good to know as well).

Back then I was only interested in the candy, but it seems like a weird idea for everyone in the entire class to give everyone else a valentine, with messages ranging from the standard "you're the best!" to the oddly-also-sorta-standard "I love you." Candy is cool, cutting red hearts out of construction paper is fine - but it seems like giving someone else a valentine is a slightly more grown up thing to do. Like, I wouldn't have elementary school kids drink a pint of Guiness just because that's we do on St. Patrick's Day. Also, clearly, at some point, we stopped this whole "give valentines to everyone in your class" ritual - who decided what grade that stopped? I think schools should dispense with the formalities altogether, and just rename it "Candy Day". Everyone brings candy to share with everyone else, and you just sit around all day eating it. That's what the Eric Ma School will have - Candy Day. (Soon, by the way, I will be detailing what other awesome features my elementary school will have. Stay tuned.)

Anyhow, I've mostly outgrown my need for candy, and really don't eat much, unless you count sugarless gum. But some adults definitely still need a Candy Day. Last year, Kat was nice enough to mail out little valentine cards with some candy. Only the mailman who got hold of the envelope was so excited about candy that he tore open the envelope and TOOK the candy. THEN, this guy puts the WRAPPER BACK INTO THE ENVELOPE. Without the wrapper, I wouldn't have even known Kat meant to put in any candy - the mailman was definitely taunting me. I was picturing him laughing hysterically as he enjoyed his Jolly Rancher. "MWAHAHA - when you control the mail, you control...INFORMATION!"