Lonely; pain; single: these are all words to describe the most wretched day of the year, Valentine’s Day. Despite the generally lonely feelings and painful rejections instigated by the holiday, many Seabury students have positive experiences from their childhood when the day was more childish and innocent.

Some students have long stories of childhood friends turned into childhood crushes. Sophomore Vivian Hill shares her experience. “His name was Timothy; we were like best friends in kindergarten. Back then, we had this game we made up called ‘Kissy Monsters’ and it was hilarious,” she says. “We would chase around these guys and try to kiss them, and they would all have to run away from us,” she reminisces with a laugh. 

Sophomore Alexandra Terry also provided her story. “Well, our parents knew each other through social events, and so they thought it would be a good idea to get us together as friends. At first, I enjoyed his brother’s company a lot more, but I ended up growing to like him more than just friends,” Terry says. “At the public pool one time, everything was going swimmingly, and all of our group was getting along well, but then one of my insane friends got in an ugly mood, and before I knew it she was holding my crush under the water in the shallow end. A teacher had to come pull her off of him, like TMZ type of fighting. That was the first core memory I had of him, and it only went downhill from there,” Terry remarks sarcastically.

Some stories began when school friendships blossomed to de facto lovers. “I went to Hillcrest in fourth grade, and I had just moved from another country, so I got there and I didn’t really know anybody, but I met this guy named Denny, and he was really nice and we always looked out for each other,” says seventh grader Hannah Billen. “I was sad because there was this other girl that cried and confessed her love to him, and I didn’t really like him enough to fight that. One time, I texted him on Snapchat, and he said he was Denny from Hillcrest, but he ended up blocking me,” Billen recalls.

In the same way, some students were in tune with the “dating” lifestyle. “This sounds so bad but we made this little ‘stew’ with like leaves and sticks, so that was our first date,” Hill says. 

“For our first ‘date,’ we went to the pumpkin patch together, and we would go 30 minutes deep into the country to hang out with his grandma’s goats. We also had some fun at the public pool; things were generally fun back when we were kids,” Terry says.

As crazy as it may sound, some students even went to the point of “marriage” with their young lovers. “He proposed to me with this little RingPop he got, so you know how serious that is; we were definitely getting married. Our marriage was great and all until he moved to Pennsylvania in third grade. I never saw him again after that. He was the one that got away,“ Hill says laughingly. 

“I was like four, and it was just being so excited and happy around that person. I don’t really remember what it was like because it was eight years ago, but I just really wanted to marry my best friend at Jump Zone [bouncy house in Chicago],” says sixth grader Mimi Bear Don’t Walk. 

Some students have even gone to the point of being married by personal “priests.” “Basically, he proposed to me with one of those giant plastic diamond rings and I carried it with me everywhere I went. For our ‘wedding ceremony,’ we went up to my attic, and this giant stuffed teddy bear was the priest for us,” Terry says. “I still have the ring to this day,” she laughs.

Given these student experiences, Valentine’s Day is not the same for many of us. Be it eloping in a bouncy house, drowning in a pool or making a rock and stick stew, the childhood love affairs never ended up working out in the long run. “My advice to younger kids is, do NOT stay with them. It will definitely not pan out well when you are that young,” Terry says.

 Billen also gives some final advice: “Don’t keep your hopes up and don’t set your heart on one person, because it might not work out how you thought it would.”