Pat Bean's blog

A good friend of mine came across some old-fashioned valentine cards, the kind everyone in my elementary school classes used to get on February 14. Or at least everyone got one if parents had taught their children that it wasn’t nice to leave some kids off their list. 

As I recall, I got fewer than the popular kids, which may be why Valentine’s Day has never particularly been a favorite of mine. There’s also the matter of my name being misspelled.

 Back then my class name was the hated Patsy, because another Patricia was in the class and she got first dibs on the name Pat. Some of the valentines I received said To: Pasty instead of Patsy. Of course, some smart-alecky kid noticed, meaning that I got called the gluey name for the next week or so.

Anyway, my former colleague and pen-pal friend Charlie sent me one of the old valentine cards he had come across, asking if I remembered them. How could I ever forget?

There were cards featuring cute elephants saying, “I have a trunk full or love for you.” And ones with bowling balls and the sentiment “You bowl me over.” And my favorite, ones featuring a wall clock with a bird poking out and singing: “I’m cuckoo over you.”

Clearly, being clever with puns was a requirement for valentine creators. Maybe it still is. Do they still make valentines like that these days?

Happy Valentine’s Day All.

Pat Bean is a retired award-winning journalist who lives in Tucson with her canine companion, Scamp. She is a wondering-wanderer, avid reader, enthusiastic birder, Lonely Planet Community Pathfinder, Story Circle Network board member, author of Travels with Maggie available on Amazon (Free on Kindle Unlimited), and is always searching for life’s silver lining.