You Give Your Hand to Me

..and then you say hello, and I can hardly speak, my heart is beating so…….

It’s Valentine’s week at Enormously Funny Cartoons and I’m having a lot of fun with it. Check out the series at efcartoons.com or Facebook or Instagram or, wherever. I’ve had some pretty good Valentine’s Days and some not so good ones. I’m sure it’s probably the same with you. I remember it was always a fun day at school, back when you gave a Valentine to everybody in class. Some had those little lollipops attached or the little hearts that tasted like a combination of chalk and Pepto Bismol. And, the signature was important. There was a huge difference between the ones signed, “Love” and the ones with just a name scrawled at the bottom. Or, at least, I liked to think so. I remember spending a lot of time picking out the “special” valentine and debating about the signature because, even way back then, you wanted to be sure your feelings were reciprocated before you put yourself out there. Pride starts early. It never failed that the person you had a huge crush on didn’t sign, “with love,” and it was always a big disappointment, ruining Valentine’s Day entirely. I remember lots of girls in the bathroom crying and other girls saying supportive things like, “Well, he doesn’t deserve you. He’s a jerk.” This never failed to cheer you up considerably. Still does. Now, I love a few people and I tell them, not really worrying too much about reciprocation because, well, life is short. “Goodbye, nice to see you, I love you.” Say that. It may seem like you have endless opportunities to do so but, you don’t. Anyways, by the time my son came along, Valentine’s Day had morphed into this huge thing and you had to help out with the class party and take all kinds of cupcakes, made without nuts or peanut butter, and also take a sugar and gluten-free option and, later, no butter or eggs or anything until, finally, cupcakes were banned entirely. And you didn’t give Valentines to everyone anymore; just the special one, along with candy and some sort of stuffed animal and, later, zillion-dollar red roses. I never liked red roses. I liked pink or, maybe, yellow. So, if I got red roses, I wasn’t particularly overjoyed. If you don’t know me by now…… People were better off giving me chocolate (milk, not dark) and now, wine. Yep. Instant gratification. Here’s hoping all of you have a happy Valentine’s Day and at least this will be a reminder to all you forgetful people. Valentine’s Day is a week after the Super Bowl, on a Sunday, Feb. 14th, to be exact. So, get those cards and sign them, “Love” and if you don’t get one back, well, that’s okay. Hit me up. I’ll send you one.

……and anyone can tell, you think you know me well, but you don’t know me…….