A Mid-70's Grade School Valentine

Remember those lame little cards we were required to hand out to all of our classmates when we were in grade school? Everyone always wanted to receive the Snoopy ones that the rich kids gave. Most of us ended up with the really cheap ones. You know the ones I mean --they were printed on thin paper and usually featured illustrations of children with huge heads and stupid little slogans. Like, one would have a big-headed boy holding a baseball in his tiny hands with a slogan reading, "I'd go to bat for you anytime, Valentine!" ...and then the kid would scrawl his/her name in crayon and you were never quite sure if the kid selected the card specifically for you or just randomly assigned the card to your ugly Valentine Receipt Envelope which was attached to your desk with masking tape.

Yeah, it sucked. None of us liked it. However, this was not as bad as the way the PE coach would line everyone up, ask the 2 most popular kids to be team leaders, instruct those 2 evil children to pick out who would be on their respective teams and I would always be one of the last 3 kids selected. And, then we would throw balls really hard at each other for the next 30 minutes. Many of us would get socked in the head or crotch by a ball coming at us at about 80 miles per hour cause it is amazing how strong we were during the rage of battle ball. Sometimes you would get a bloody nose and the coach, upon seeing our wounds would apply the same line all coaches use: "Well, life isn't fair"

Do you think I might be just a bit bitter? I bet I am not half as bitter as Lester Earl who was always the last team member picked and the first one marked for a deadly ball hit. Actually, come to think of it, the 2 popular kids are probably the most bitter because I suspect their lives peaked at about 17. Oh well. Life isn't fair.