—Your Secret Admirer—
I tell this story each Valentine’s Day.
If you’ve been rejected, you’re not alone.
Please note, though, that all Names have been changed. …To protect me.
Many years ago, when I was young and in elementary school, each Valentine’s Day, students would bring Valentine’s Day cards for every other student in the classroom.
So, if twenty students were in the classroom, including you, you would get nineteen cards and give nineteen cards- one to each kid.
The night before Valentine’s Day, Mom would take me to K-Mart, and we’d buy a box of cards.
Every card said the same thing, “Happy Valentine’s Day!” and it came with a red sucker attached to the card.
We were to sign each card with our name.
There was a girl named “Bridget” in my class that I liked. (Names have been changed for this post.) I decided to sign my card to Bridget as “Your Secret Admirer.”
My brothers told me that she would go around the room asking all the guys if they were her “Secret Admirer,” and I could either “man up” and tell her “Yes” or chicken out and say, “No.”
I figured I’d worry about that when it happened. The first thing was ensuring that my particular card arrived on Bridget’s desk.
At school, it was time for us students to swap our Valentine’s Cards with one another in the classroom.
The teacher had everyone stand up and walk around handing out our cards.
And since Bridget was standing up and walking around handing out her cards, it was the perfect time for me to put my card on her desk.
And I did. Mission Accomplished.
I continued walking around, handing out the rest of my cards.
I then watched Bridget sit at her desk and go through her cards. I sat and waited.
Then, I saw her read my card.
“Happy Valentine’s Day! From: Your Secret Admirer.”
She looked around the classroom while I looked down at the floor. If she saw me staring at her while she looked around, she’d know it was me, and I wanted to keep it a secret- for the time being, at least.
Then, she did just as my brothers said she would.
She got up and started asking all the guys if they were her “secret admirer.”
I thought, “What am I gonna say when she gets to me?”
And I began to worry. Badly.
But then, I noticed that she wasn’t going around to all the guys and asking—just the guys she liked.
She never even came over to my desk.
As a matter of fact, she walked right past my desk to go to Johnny’s desk and ask Johnny if he was her secret admirer.
And I learned that even as a “Secret Admirer,” you can still get rejected.
I never tried that stunt again.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Love you,
–Lynn
