Disheartening

Walking on down to the seventh-grade dance

And I don't know what we're going there for

No one's gonna talk to us, we'll look real silly

Just staring at the gymnasium floor

I'll wrestle the beat

With my two left feet

They'll point and they'll stare

At what my mom made me wear

Tomorrow I'll wake up

Crying and smiling

"Seventh Grade Dance" - Smash Mouth

My high school had a Valentine's Day tradition that was an ego-demolisher disguised as a fundraiser. The home economics department sold cookie tickets to the girls during Valentines week. They could buy a ticket for either a white cookie or a red cookie. They would then write down the name of the boy they wanted to give the cookie to on the ticket. The cookies would be delivered anonymously, so the girls could buy as many as they wanted. Some of the more popular guys would get four or five gifts.

The actual cookies would be placed in the hallway lockers during the last period on Friday. If you opened your locker and found a white cookie, that meant someone liked you. If there was a red cookie lurking inside, it meant someone loved you.

None of the guys acted as if getting cookies meant anything to them, but as we casually walked to our lockers, the question on all of our minds was, "How much love is in there?" 



I felt like a minor league player in the movie Major League. If there was a red ticket hanging in his locker at the end of practice, then that man's dreams of becoming a big league player were over.

Each year I did the same thing. I placed my hand on my locker's handle. I took a deep breath. Then I slowly opened the door. Each year there was the same number of cookies in my locker - zero. Apparently, "Brent" is a hard name to spell.

High school can be a lonely time for some people.

Hitching a ride to the high school dance

And I don't know what we're going there for

The girls are so pretty in their shopping mall fashions

And we're so invisible to them

I feel like I'm in

Some John Hughes film

Like a dream we've all had

Where you can't run too fast

Tomorrow we'll wake up

Crying and smiling

"Seventh Grade Dance" - Smash Mouth

Fast forward that song to 2016. 

I no longer sneer at Valentine's Day cards. In fact, I just got one that I'll probably keep forever.

As for cookies, Daphne's newest hobby is baking.

My locker runneth over.

I hope you will have a Happy Valentine's day, too!

Smash Mouth - Seventh Grade Dance link