Tuesday

14 February 2017

— Well, when Cupid shot his dart / He shot it at your heart

Good Morning All,

Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, Copenhagen International School was housed in a building owned by the Catholic Church next door on our right. Three doors to our left was a strip joint, so we felt nicely situated morally. The building itself was not—as we like to say in the ed biz.—“purpose built”. Rumor was it had been formerly a nunnery. No two rooms were a like. There were little corners and alcoves here and there. We did not have enough space for a proper student lounge, so kids sat in the corridors. Everybody—teachers and students—climbed over everybody else to get from here to there, and it was all very cozy and un-school like.

For Valentine’s day, the Charity Club, which sent money to sister schools in Africa, sold red roses with an accompanying pink slip of paper upon which was a picture of Cupid, a teddy bear, and a heart-shaped box of chocolates. At the top was written “Dear” in old English script. For five crowns, which was around fifty cents, you could purchase the rose, write your valentine, put on the attached envelope the name of the person to whom your valentine was going, and a Charity Club member would deliver it all for you.

Which gets me to: Britta never ever threw anything away. Holly is worse. Johs is nearly as bad. My own far more healthy policy is: If I come across something I have not used in five years, I say sternly to that something, “Listen, buddy, if I do not use you at least once in the next five years, you could be in trouble."

This pack-rat habit is part of why we filled that dumpster with 1.8 tons of stuff, made 34 more trailer trips to the dump,  and still transported down here enough essential treasures to place at least one item on every seat in Fenway Park.

That said, there are times when the pack-rat habit provides lovely surprises. Here are two of those pink-sheet valentines the kids came across in Britta’s under-the-bed boxes during our move:

Hi Kinsaman, Here is a rose for all the love we share. Tak, min skat. To love and share friendship is an awesome experience. The four of us have it all. Love, Maqina.

Britta received that same year in beautifully printed lettering: Dear Mrs. Pierce, "Ah, penny, brown / penny, brown penny, / I am looped / in the loops of your hair." Sincerely, A Secret Admirer. (Under which was a picture of a stick-figure man wearing a top-hat and leaning on a cane.)

Extra points if you can identify the song quoted at the top of the page, the author of the quote in the second valentine, and the name of the still lanky fellow—back then!—who sent the second valentine.

Go Well and Stay Well,

Bhekaron