Tomorrow is February 14th. Yes, it’s Ash Wednesday in the Christian calendar, but it’s best known as Valentine’s Day. Depending on your perspective,and leaving out for purposes of this diary Valentine’s Day as feast day for a variety of Christian martyrs named Valentine, it’s either a beautiful day dedicated to love, or a seemingly never-ending Hallmark holiday brought to you by the colors Red and Pink with help from their friend Candy. Regardless of what your thoughts are on the holiday this year, my guess is that at some point, there was a person… and while it might not have been Candy Crush Saga, it definitely was a sweet first love. Grab a beverage fitting to your thoughts on the day and a handful of Conversation Hearts, and meet us across the Story break after a word from our sponsor...
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I was in fourth grade in February 1974 and I will never forget it. I was short, skinny, with glasses and fine pale blonde hair that absolutely did NOT do what all the other girls’ hair did. I was NOT anyone’s first choice for teams during gym class. In other words, a typical geeky fourth grader :).
There was this boy in my class… I’ll call him AJ for short. He too was short, skinny and with glasses. He too did NOT rock the dodgeball circuit; on the contrary, we were what might be called “targets”. And AJ had a crush on me. He hung out with me, and was polite to my Mom whenever he saw her. He’d help me whenever I needed an extra pair of arms, or whatever. He also wrote me my very first love poetry, in his best handwriting because this was WAY before texting and flowery images posted on Instagram. Yes, one of those poems even began with Roses are Red, Violets are Blue.... He declared his love for me, and said it would be forever. I thought he was kinda cute and nice, and while I don’t remember, I am sure I said appropriately sappy things back.
I still have that folded sheet of love poetry, to which K1 can attest. Alas, AJ moved out of our school district a few years later and while we tried to keep in touch, this was pre-Facebook and eventually we lost contact. I’ve never seen him again, but if you’re out there AJ, I still remember all the sweet rhymes about cat food (trust me, they were inspired and utterly loveable, and based on my real name so I can’t share them here).
I sit on a church committee that meets monthly, and at every meeting we come together over an initial check-in question. This week, our check-in question was “do you remember your first crush?” EVERY person present remembered theirs. Do you remember yours? Please share your puppy love, first crush, or first Real True Love story in the comments!
But first, peruse the Top Comments, Mojo and Pictures brought to you tonight by my Top Comments Sweetest Collaborator ever, BeninSC!
Brillig's ObDisclaimer: The decision to publish each nomination lies with the evening's Diarist and/or Comment Formatter. My evenings at the helm, I try reeeeallllyy hard to publish everything without regard to content. I really do, even when I disagree personally with any given nomination. "TopCommentness" lies in the eyes of the nominator and of you, the reader - I leave the decision to you. I do not publish self-nominations (ie your own comments) and if I ruled the world, we'd all build community, supporting and uplifting instead of tearing our fellow Kossacks down.
Note: Please remember that comment inclusion in Top Comments does not constitute support or endorsement by diarist, formatter, Top Comments writers or DailyKos. Questions, complaints or comments? Contact brillig.
From SandraLLAP:
I'd like to nominate this comment from netop from last night-because I think this is such an excellent question. Thanks! (It highlights Republican and conservative hypocrisy.)
From belinda ridgewood:
annieli's diary reports that Sean Hannity sees "hidden sperm" in Obama's portrait. Snud has an observation about that!
Then, in my own diary! I told Snud you're going to think we're colluding or something, but this pictorial comment is so very Top.
Highlighted by ericlewis0:
Is this comment by raptavio! TC Kossacks unite!
Highlighted by jsteve7:
Is this comment by brown american on dealing with two groups of tRump voters. Insightful.
Top Mojo ala mik!
For Monday, February 12, 2018, first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on the subject.
Top Pictures
2018-02-13, courtesy of jotter!