One Year Anniversary and Valentines on Memory Lane Friday

Memory Lane Friday is a weekly blog carnival where you can blog about your memories and link up.  All are welcome.  This week actually marks the one year anniversary of Memory Lane Friday!  Not too many people have participated, but I continue to do it each week simply because I want to preserve my own memories for my family.  I decided that since next week is Random Acts of Kindness Week, I would like to recognize the person who participated most during the past year.  I wish I could recognize you all, because I've really enjoyed reading about your memories.  But one person stands out - I don't think she's missed a Memory Lane Friday since she started participating.  That person is Sonya, from Under the Desert Sky.  I don't know if she can keep it up with having just started grad school, but I certainly do appreciate reading her stories and memories each week.  Sonya, there's a package in the mail headed your way full of goodies to help you preserve your memories.  A travel journal, a photo album, and lots of fun scrapbooking supplies.  And if some of those things are not your style, you can pass them on for Random Acts of Kindness Week.  Enjoy! 

Today's theme is Valentine's Day.  How many can recall spending a miserable Valentine's Day in their youth?  One thing that sticks out in my mind is how they would do those carnation fund raisers (I read an article that many schools have since stopped doing these).  Every year you could buy a carnation for $1, attach a little note, and have it delivered to the person(s) of your choice during home room.  The profits went toward prom I believe. 

Every year was a bit of a suspenseful torment.  Would I get any carnations this year?  Or would I be left, empty-handed and shame faced at the end of home room?  I had years of both.  One of the nice things is I had a few girl  friends, and we had each others' backs.  We'd send one another white or pink carnations of friendship.  But it wasn't the same as getting one from a boy.

My senior year rolled around and here came the volunteers with their buckets of carnations.  I'd been dating more that year so I figured I wasn't going to leave empty handed this time.  Sure enough, I had a couple of flowers.  I eagerly peeked in the green folded notes stapled to the stems.  A couple from girl friends and then - the shocker - a pink carnation from one of the popular football players, C, and believe me - I didn't hang with that crowd.  I could've fallen off my seat with surprise.  It said something innocuous inside like "You seem like a nice girl".  I was intrigued. 

A few weeks later he called and asked me out.  Of course I said yes.  He was coming off a breakup of a logn-term high school relationship.  I don't think we'd ever spoken two words to one another before.  I wasn't a cheerleader and I wasn't in the popular crowd, plus I took the nerdy classes, so our paths just never crossed.  I didn't have an attraction to him but I was mostly just curious.  Why did he bother? 

The date was so fun.  I remember cruising the mall, hanging out at his house to meet his mom, and him attempting to show me how to drive his truck.  We had a really good time, although there didn't seem to be any chemistry on either side.  We were more like good buddies just enjoying life.  Probably he just wanted to get out of the house after his breakup.  And I was just interested to get to know him, this guy that could cross clique barriers without a second thought.

He never asked me out again, despite the fact that we seemed to have a fun time.  Once, crossing paths at the end of the year outside school, he mentioned that he'd always meant to ask me out again but never got around to it.  I don't think either of us had regrets that we didn't date again, but I did think he would've made a great friend.  Our circles just didn't interlap. 

Remembering this, though, I wish I could tell all the teenage boys out there, "Won't you just send a carnation to one unsuspecting girl this year?  Just out of kindness?"  It's those small, little moments of appreciation that hang in your happy memories for many years.

If you'd like to participate in Memory Lane Friday, you can add the link to your blog here:

Next week is a 'no theme' week.