My Valentine, made by Elan

Elan and I had a Valentine-making session yesterday.

The Valentines were super simple, homemade little bits of affection: a white heart, a piece of colored construction paper, a rainbow sticker. He wrote all the names of his classmates himself. He got excited when he wrote his name really well (“This is my best name ever, Mama!”) and got only minimally down on himself when he didn’t (“What happened to that E? That’s a weird looking E!”).

On the way to school this morning, he was so excited about giving out his Valentines. And I thought how precious it is to give, especially when you have no expectations around what you might receive.

When we got to his classroom, I saw other kids traipsing in with bags full of candy and store-bought Valentines, and I felt my heart constrict a little. Will he come home lamenting that he didn’t have Star Wars or Ninjago or Superhero Valentines to hand out, not to mention lollipops or Hershey’s kisses? Or will he feel proud that he made his Valentines, however simple they are? Or will he just be happy and enjoy the thought and the sugar high?

He wanted to give each of his classmates their favorite color, and he remembered a remarkable number of them.

Ask me to memorize the favorite colors of 20 people, and I’d probably get about 6 of them right. But I guess that space in my brain is being taken up by remembering to get the car’s tires aligned and to buy cinnamon sticks for that yummy slow cooker Moroccan-style chicken recipe.

Speaking of recipes, if you’re craving a sugar high that’s more substantial than little candy hearts, check back this weekend. I’m going to post my favorite oatmeal-chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s fantabulistic.