Thursday, November 19, 2009

A Day Late and Postage Due: Theme Thursday

I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date!

This week's Theme Thursday topic is "Late", so rather than being late in getting a post out, I thought I'd recycle this sad statement on my dating history...

(Original post date: February 5, 2009)

Valentine's Day is coming soon. Someone just pointed that out to me today. It's not one of my favorite "holidays". Probably because I've never experienced the joy of getting a heart-shaped box of candy or a dozen roses of any color from a boy. My older sister was the one to whom those deliveries were addressed. I always watched with the hope that one day the delivery would be for me.

As a kid I loved decorating a shoe box with pink and red crepe paper each year in the hope that my classmates would fill it full of valentines. Back then the valentines were usually homemade. Red construction paper, doilies, glue and crayolas were the basic materials used to make them. (There's something really cool about the sound of kid scissors cutting through construction paper. Very satisfying.) Those who were really creative used glitter as well. Of course there were also the candy hearts that some people would glue onto the cards. Definitely not as tasty after being pried off the cards three months later, though. Most exciting to find in your box were the heart-shaped cookies with pink frosting that some mothers would make with their children. You were truly blessed if one of those ended up in your box. Sadly, there weren't any rules back then about making sure you gave a card to everyone in the class. Invariably there was some poor schmuck who had noticeably fewer cards than the other children. (Usually the kid whose box was a plain paper bag.) While I never had the fewest, my box was occasionally not quite as full as some others'. It always made me a little sad.

As I got older, the girls I knew started getting frilly cards from boys in the mail. However, the only time I ever got a valentine from a real live boy, it arrived a day late and postage due.

Seriously! I'm not kidding!

I was in college at the time and apparently the young lad thought he was depositing the card into the campus mail box, which provides free delivery between campus buildings. In actuality, the box he deposited the card into was one designated by the United States Postal Service for the collection of letters with stamps on them. When you don't affix one of said colorful stamps onto the envelope, the dedicated men and women of the USPS go through rain or sleet or dark of night to find you a day later and demand payment for the service they have rendered by bringing the card to you. Needless to say, I was not impressed by the young man's ardor. (Or lack thereof.) Especially as the card itself was extremely tacky, featuring a leering young man and including an equally distasteful sentiment written inside. Ewww! Gross!

What a disappointment!

Years later, I still await the thrill of a well-appointed card, chocolates or flowers from a boy on Valentine's Day. I'm not holding my breath, though. If I get a postage-due slip from the post office in my mailbox on February 14, I think I'll just leave it there.

30 comments:

MaR said...

What a sweet story (despite the fee!) That young man made sure you wouldn't ever forget him...

Late...

Skip Simpson said...

Awww! If you remind me on January 30th, (my birthday) I'll make sure I send you something for Valentine's Day.

Mike said...

My little valentine box was always empty when I was in school!

The Peach Tart said...

Nice story

Lee said...

I have never liked Valentines for that very reason you stated! I never got anything from any boys either. Not even a postage due.

Moooooog35 said...

...and that's how they caught the Unibomber.

Gone, long gone. said...

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Your followers all love
CatLadyLarew

Brian Miller said...

ouch. day late and postage due...i hope you get your valentine. smiles.

happy tt!

Tess Kincaid said...

I haven't thought of decorating those Valentine boxes in school in ages. I always loved the process. Mine was usually an empty Quaker Oats box.

Indigo Roth said...

Hi CatLady! I don't think I ever received a Valentine from someone I wasn't dating already. I'm hoping to grow into my looks. A little grey at the temples? I might be a rogue-ish 50-year-old Rake? No, not the gardening implement! Indigo

Anonymous said...

First of all, the sound of scissors cutting construction paper is very satisifying ALMOST as much as Diet Dr. Pepper!

Second, why did you not grace us with the actual contents of the card that you PAID for?

Come on Catlady: GIVE!

hee hee hee

Gone, long gone. said...

Quirky, I never noticed that before, but you are quite right!

Alan Burnett said...

Ah, there's still time for that card to come. Maybe the post is just a little late. Happy TT.

Me-Me King said...

I've never been a big fan of Valentine's Day either. And, mostly, for the same reasons. But, your story made me smile when remembering how much fun it always was making the Valentine boxes. :)

Happy Valentine's Day, Cat Lady!

rxBambi said...

Oh that's so sad! It almost breaks my heart,except it was pretty funny. What happened with the boy??

nonamedufus said...

That was kinda sad. Better luck next year.

Stephanie said...

Postage due on a late valentine - horrid!

Unknown said...

Postage due. That's awful.

Wings1295 said...

Sounds like you and Charlie Brown have something in common.

;)

NJ Pigno said...

Oh shit! Is it Valentine's time already?

gayle said...

That was a sad post!! Boys and girls today still make those little boxes but teachers always tell the kids and write a note to parents to be sure to do a valentine for every kid. That way no one gets there feelings hurt,wonder why teachers didn't think of that back in our day.

Jill from Killeny Glen said...

OH! A bit sad! I hope you get your Valentine!

ReformingGeek said...

Candy? Did you say candy? Yum!

Oh, wait. Valentine? Hum.....I was a lot like you. Not much in the Valentine department when I was a girl but nothing arrived postage due.

Yep. Please do elaborate.

Fun post!

Jayne Martin said...

Valentine's Day sucks. It's just a made-up holiday by the psychiatric community designed specifically to make you feel bad about yourself and increase their business.

I do like candy so I wait until the day after and buy it for myself half-off.

Madame DeFarge said...

Well, we still love you. Which is no practical use I'll admit.

Anonymous said...

Oh dear, how sad...I mean being late and missing your post! Geez Cat Lady, we are getting slack :) blahahaha. OK, I loved the story !

Kris McCracken said...

They cut poor Valentine's head off, you know...

http://howtobecomeacatladywithoutthecats.blogspot.com said...

Mar: Thanks for stopping by.

Skip: Aw, thanks, Skip! Now you're sure to get at least one birthday greeting! (I promise not to send it postage due!)

Otin: Did you forget to decorate it?

Peach Tart: Thanks!

Lee: At least you never had to pay to get a card!

Moooooog: So I have something in common with the Unibomber! It can be my new claim to fame!

http://howtobecomeacatladywithoutthecats.blogspot.com said...

Maelstrom: Shucks... now you've made me blush! Love the poem... better than any postage due card!

Brian: It's kinda the story of my life. So sad!

Willow: Quaker Oat box... good choice!

Indigo: I think you should offer your services for those romantic novel publishers! You'd make a dashing rake for the cover photos.

Quirky: I'd share, except it was so tacky I did not bother commit it to memory! Now if it had been a lovely poem like Maelstroms...
I should have saved the envelope, though... just out of general principle. I did pay for it after all!

Alan: I'd settle for late, but I'm not falling for the postage due part again!

Me-Me: Making the valentine boxes was the best part... I did love making those!

http://howtobecomeacatladywithoutthecats.blogspot.com said...

rxBambi: I much prefer to find the humor in these situations rather than dwell on how pathetic my life is. I dated the guy for about half a year, although we were not really well suited. I think I kept going out with him just to have a date... bad reason.

Dufus: Sad, but true!

Stephanie & Summer: Postage due sucks... especially on valentines. Sorta detracts from the whole point.

Wings: Yep, me and good ole Charlie Brown! Maybe I should have dated him.

Nanodance: You still have a few months left to select the perfect card for your sweetheart. Just wanted to give you an early heads up.

gayle: Valentine's Day is a stupid holiday. We banned all the cards from our school and just had the kids make one for themselves!

Jill: Thanks, but I'm not putting all my happiness on getting any valentines anymore.

Reffie: Candy... yummmm! We now have anti-valentine parties at our house for all the pathetic losers who are unattached.

Jayne: That's the way to do it! Wait until the candy's on sale and chow down!

Madame DeFarge: So long as I know you love me, I can die a happy woman!

frigginloon: I'm getting forgetful in my old age... late on everything these days!

Kris: I know... perhaps we should celebrate Valentine's Day by cutting off the heads of people who send us stuff postage due. It would be a much more accurate remembrance of the day.

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