My Thoughts on Valentine's Day and Its Meaning

Depending on your age, Valentine's Day may be thought of as just another day in your life. However, if you are a young child in elementary school, it just might be the most important day of your life! What makes Valentine's Day so special to a young child is the combination of events that take place on this special day. First, there is the anticipation of waiting to see how many Valentines you will receive from your school classmates! It is very satisfying to each and every student to receive a Valentine from someone that cares about them. Second, it’s the thought that counts, and possibly no other reason weighs more heavily on a child's imagination than the thought of being remembered on a special occasion.

A Valentine’s Day card may represent many different images to a child's feelings. It may help to create a sense of belonging and self-awareness. A card may make each person feel important and special in the eyes of their peers. It may be the first time in their young life that a Valentine’s card represents the feeling of love, companionship, friendship, and their willingness to communicate such to other people without feeling embarrassed by trying to say it in their own words.

There are probably many reasons why Valentine's Day is so special in the life of children in elementary school, but perhaps the most  significant is that Valentine’s cards and gifts share a dream with all ages – a dream that asks the question, “What if?” and then answers it with a comment.

In the story A Valentine Dream, Sharon sends George, one of her special classmates, a birthday card on his 13th birthday. On the card, Sharon writes a little postscript, “Remember, George – the secret of life is in your dreams!” Perhaps Valentine's Day is so special because it represents all of our dreams, whether we are young or old!

(To read the Valentine's story by George, order your copy of A Valentine Dream, published for Kindle e-readers and paperback, available on Amazon.com.
Search: Holiday Favorites by George F. Kohn)

A Valentine Dream, Part 2

In the morning, Sharon woke up from her strange dream.  In a way, she was delighted at being able to observe classmates in their own private sanctuary in the tree Fort.  “I wonder if it’s possible to visit other places in the dream world?” she thought to herself.  “I need to figure out how to remember my dreams. Maybe if I kept a diary of each dream the minute I woke up, I would learn how to remember them.”  Sharon had an old diary book that someone had given her for Christmas, tucked away in the closet.  She opened the diary book and began to write with her new ballpoint pen – the date, time, and a summary of her dream about looking into the tree Fort.

The next day at school, Sharon was excited to tell her best friend Joyce about her new experience with dreaming.  “I’m going to the library to see if I can learn more about dreams,” said Sharon with an excited tone in her voice.  Browsing in the library, Sharon was surprised – there were all kinds of books on dreaming.  Some were about how to learn while you’re dreaming; others explained psychoanalysis of dreams and meanings of dreams.  She checked out three of them and began to read each one at different times of the day.

Each day when Sharon and Joyce met on the playground, Sharon would explain some things she had read in the books.  Joyce was a little concerned about some of the weird stuff Sharon was telling her.  “I don’t know if I would get into all this stuff about dreams and what they mean. It sounds to me like devil worshipping or something to do with evil spirits. And besides, what good will it do for you in real life?”  “I don’t know,” said Sharon, “but I find it interesting to learn about something that I know absolutely nothing about. Don’t you find it interesting?” she asked.  “Have you ever wondered why you have nightmares? It says in one of the books I read that a good way to conquer your fears, especially in a dream, is to confront them.”  “What do you mean?” asked Joyce.  “Well, according to this book, if you’re afraid of water, and have reoccurring dreams about drowning at the beach, you need to confront your dream.”  “How do you do that?” asked Joyce.  “According to the dream book, when you experience such a fearful event in your dream, you simply take control of the dream.”  “And how do you do that?” asked Joyce.  “You confront your fear in the dream world by diving headfirst into the wave. By confronting the fear in your dream, the fear will go away and never bother you again!”  “Wow,” said Joyce, “that is powerful, heavy stuff!”

After further evaluation of the report on Sharon, progress was noted in the spacecraft.  “I believe we’re ready to begin Phase II in the dream interpretation exercise,” said the Star Commander.  We will teach Sharon how to use her dreams to her own advantage, so she will have a grasp on the future,” he said.

Sharon was fast asleep that night, dreaming about a new step in her clogging routine to perform in an upcoming contest.  She could see herself doing the dance steps as if she were looking at a movie screen.  “How strange,” she thought to herself in her dream, “that I can watch myself dancing while I’m asleep.”

The dream suddenly changed, and there was an image before her, dressed in strange clothing.  “Do not be afraid, Sharon. I am your mentor in this particular dream. Together we are going to discover the art of dreaming. I will show you a method to help you remember your dreams; once you perfect this method, you will be able to realize when you are dreaming. First of all, you must be aware that earthlings have not developed these skills to their highest potential, and therefore they are self-limiting in the cognitive realm of higher thinking. It is somewhat of a lost skill that was used many years ago by the ancient disciples of the forethought. These disciples would interpret the meaning of dreams for kings and other important people of power, as a way to guide them through wars and other important matters. You will use your new ability to understand dreams and to interpret the dreams’ true meanings, so that you will have a clearer understanding of the future.”  “What am I to do with this new knowledge?” she asked.  “You will become a mentor to your people as you get older,” said the image before her.  “There are several sequences that you must master before we go much further in this process. Are you ready to learn?”  “I’ll try,” replied Sharon.  “Good; let us begin. The first step is to remember your cue.”  “What is…”  “Do not interrupt; just listen and try to remember. Your cue is to watch your feet while you’re dreaming. The realization that you are watching your feet will be your cue that you are dreaming. Once you have mastered this technique, we will move on to more advanced methods of training. For now, just concentrate on the feet cue. When you realize you are dreaming on cue, you will be ready to advance to the next form of higher learning.”

When Sharon woke up that morning, she went to her diary first thing and began writing what she remembered in her dream.  “Watch my feet. Learn my cue. Remember the results.”  She placed a big star next to the date in the sequence of this dream.  From then on, every night before going to bed, Sharon would remind herself to remember her cue.  She practiced and practiced until she thought she would never be able to accomplish this simple step.  She would dream all sorts of weird things in her dreams, but could not remember or find her cue that she was dreaming.

One night, a dream was different from the others.  Somehow she was performing a dance, and she began to jump higher and higher in the air.  She thought in her dream, “This is impossible – I can’t really jump this high! I must be dreaming,” she thought.  It took several more months of practice before Sharon finally found her cue in her dream.  From then on, she could tell when she was in a dream state.

 “Sir, we’re getting a strong signal from Sharon’s synapse response in her dream state. It appears that she is able to master Phase II, and is aware when she is dreaming.”  “Very good,” barked the star commander.  “Now we will execute the training in Phase III.”

(Part Two of story by George F. Kohn, author of

Holiday Favorites series available on Amazon.com)

To read the rest of the story, order your copy of A Valentine Dream, published for Kindle e-readers and paperback.

A Valentine Dream

Every year, on or before February 14^th, the school had a special party for each class.  This special day, called Valentine’s Day, was a time to express kind feelings to other students in the classroom, the teacher, and the student body in the school.  It was a time when young people acknowledged anyone they especially cared about.

At Norwood Elementary School, for this special day of the year in the classroom, there was much preparation by the students, their homeroom mother, and members of the PTA (Parent-Teacher Association.)  One of the first projects was the making of a Valentine box for each classroom.  The box was usually plain old cardboard, about the size of a student desktop.  The homeroom teacher usually asked for a volunteer to make the box, or it became the responsibility of the homeroom mother.  The box was usually decorated with crêpe paper of different shades of colors in red and white.  The creative ability of the person or persons decorating the Valentine box typically determined how much time and effort went into making the best one in the school.  The box was usually decorated with various sizes of Valentines made by individual students.  Some of the children were very creative in making their Valentines with fringes and layers of other Valentines on top of each other.  Creative, cutout shapes of decorations were placed all over the Valentine box.

There was usually a contest held for the best Valentine box in the school.  Each class was allowed to visit other classrooms, and vote on their favorite box.  The boxes were full of students’ Valentine cards with their classmates’ names written on them.  Most students also signed their own name on the Valentines they put in the box, but sometimes they wanted to remain anonymous and make the person guess who the card was from.  At the end of the day, the Valentine box in each class was opened, and the Valentines were passed out to the recipients.  Usually the most popular boy or girl in each classroom received the most Valentines.  However, the homeroom teacher would make certain that each student in the class received two or more Valentines. 

The homeroom mother usually furnished cake, ice cream, and Valentine candy for the class party.  It was a happy time for students to enjoy the food and express their feelings toward one another.  It was not uncommon for a birthday party to be announced by some member in the classroom.  The party was usually held at their home, and the whole procedure was repeated all over again for that special person.

One of those special occasions was planned for Sharon’s birthday.  Sharon was a patrol girl and one of the most popular girls in the school.  She was one of those typical tomboy girls who excelled in sports, acrobatics, and just about anything she participated in.  Not only was Sharon very pretty, but she had a charming personality and positive attitude.  Sharon had multiple talents in the academic world, and she seemed to catch on to everything very quickly.  But there was one thing about Sharon that she kept a secret from most people.  She was very competitive and could not stand to lose at anything.  Sharon took great delight in outrunning boys in a foot race, beating them at their own skill games, and just plain being smarter than boys in the classroom.  Her athletic body gave her the ability to walk on her hands, do back-bend, one-handed cart wheels, and even do the splits!  If that weren’t talent enough, she was the best jacks player in school and one of the best marble shooters.  It was almost impossible to beat her in double-Dutch jump roping, dodge ball, 7-up, or hopscotch.  The boys all liked Sharon very much, mainly because they didn’t want to compete with her at anything.  

So it was probably a given that most of Sharon’s classmates would come to her birthday party.  The party was going to be held at Sharon’s house located on a horse ranch on the outskirts of town.  It was customary to bring a small present or gift to the birthday person.  Lester, Butch, Robert, Allan, and Ronald were all being driven to the party by Mrs. Strawn, and were all bearing gifts.  Letting the boys out at the front gate, she told her son Robert to call when they were ready to be picked up.  Sharon greeted them at the door, and invited them in.  

The party was held in the living room in front of a gigantic fireplace.  On top of the fireplace mantle was an assortment of trophies, medals, and ribbons.  Most of the trophies were for barrel racing and clogging contests.  There were also several medals for academic achievement in science and math.  After Butch had read the information on the trophies, he asked Sharon, “What’s clogging?”  Sharon blushed as she answered, “Clogging is a form of folk dancing.”  Within the next few minutes, Judy, Marlene, Linda, and Joyce had arrived, along with George and Bruce.  Mary and Diane arrived just as the party was getting ready to start.  The chocolate birthday cake was cut and served with ice cream topped with whipped cream.  Everyone played short games of spin the bottle, seven minutes in heaven, and post office.

When all of the formalities and games were over, it was time for Sharon to open her birthday presents.  Her mother and father gave her a new English riding saddle for her favorite horse, Shania.  George had taken a few pictures of her riding on her barrel horse at the county fair.  Once, Sharon had shared a secret with Judy on the playground that she was very fond of George.  One time when they were watching the boys playing a game of scrub softball, George hit a home run!  “He’s the one for me,” Sharon said with a big smile on her face and a gleam in her eye.”  George was one of the best athletes in the school, and like Sharon, he was very competitive at everything.

When Sharon opened George’s present, it was a beautiful white silk scarf!  Printed on it was a big red rose tree with dozens of roses.  The card read, “The Rose of Sharon.”  That happened to be the name of the particular rose tree painted on the silk scarf.  From then on, Sharon and George were seen together almost everywhere.  

The last present opened was from Butch.  He thought to himself, “I hope Sharon likes my present. I think she is the prettiest girl in the school, and she’s too good for George.”  Butch’s mind wandered on, “George brags about everything he does, and is so popular, you would think he’d give some of us other guys a chance to be popular with the girls.”  When Sharon opened the present from Butch, her eyes lit up, opening wide with excitement!  She held the necklace up for everyone to see.  It was a silver necklace with a gold medallion hanging from the chain.  Lester turned to Robert and said, “That’s the necklace …”  “I know,” said Robert, “and so do all the other guys in the club.”  “Oh, Butch,” Sharon said.  “It’s absolutely beautiful!”  Sharon then went over and kissed Butch on the cheek.

That night, almost everybody in the tree Fort club thought about that necklace.  Butch had told Lester that the necklace gave off tiny vibrations on his neck and gave him strange dreams at night.  “I don’t know if I would have given that necklace away,” said Lester.  “Why not?” asked Butch.  “I hardly ever wear it.”  The boys discussed the necklace, and many felt that Butch was smitten by Sharon, and he would do anything to get on her good side.  The boys were right – Sharon and Butch became close friends.  Almost every day after school, they would do their homework together in the school library until Sharon’s mother came to pick her up in their candy-red Cadillac.  Several times, Butch was seen carrying Sharon’s books to the car for her.  Sharon loved the necklace so much that she wouldn’t take it off.  She told Joyce that she even slept with the necklace around her neck at night.

About a month later when Sharon was talking to Judy, the subject of the necklace came up.  Sharon said, “I love the necklace very much, but sometimes it gives off vibrations that keep me awake at night.”  Judy asked,” What do you mean?”  “Oh, nothing,” said Sharon.  “It’s just that sometimes I have really strange dreams at night,” she went on.  Sure enough, that night, Sharon went to sleep as usual and began to dream.  She saw herself floating in the air, looking inside the tree Fort.  She could see and hear the boys talking about her birthday party.

Meanwhile, an alien spacecraft circled the Earth.  “Sir,” reported the CQ on duty for the night, “we have just received a signal from the tracking device on Earth.”  “Is everything going as planned, Officer?” asked the Star Commander.  “The signal is working loud and clear, but we do have a problem, Sir.”  “What kind of problem?”  “Well Sir, the tracking device is transmitting strong signals, but they are coming from a different location, and from a different gender than before.”  “You mean we’re getting a signal from a female specimen?” he asked.  “It appears so, Sir.”  “See if you can trace the signal and find the location of the person who is in possession of the necklace. When you have that information, I want a detailed report on my desk about her, the location, and how she got possession of the necklace. And CQ, make that pronto!”

The Star Commander was at his desk, reading the details of the report.  “Name: Sharon.  Gender: Female.  Location: Horse farm.  Education: Sixth-grade honor student at Norwood Elementary School.  History: A superb species of the female race.  Age: 12 years on Earth.  Characteristics: Unusual athletic abilities, above-average cognitive skills, advanced recall memory, and high IQ.  Conclusion: Great candidate for tracking and analyzing brain synapse used in decoding messages.  Recommendations: Based on intelligence gathered, it is the opinion of the committee that we continue constant monitoring of this earthling, and measure susceptibility to subliminal training in her dreams.”  The Star Commander pushed the intercom button.  “CQ, I want an immediate chronological study on everything that this young woman does. I want to know where she goes, whom she sees, and everything about her friends. In short, I want her monitored every second! Is that understood?”  “Yes Sir,” agreed the CQ.  “How long would you like this surveillance to continue, Sir?”  “Until I tell you to stop!”

(Part One of story by George F. Kohn, author of

Holiday Favorites series available on Amazon.com)