Heart Cards

Chris:

With Valentine’s Day quickly approaching, we were inspired to share how our daughter’s holiday assignment led to a new take on a traditional symbol.

When our daughter was in the second grade, the teacher challenged the class to make their own Valentine’s cards.  As she got in the car from school, she told me about her assignment. 

Her concern: “I don’t love everyone in my class.  I don’t want to put a heart on every card.”  

My suggestion: “When we get home, look up what a human heart really looks like.”  When Michelle arrived home that evening, Taryn had 14 Valentine’s cards with a typical heart shape on them AND 9 cards with a “real” heart on them, complete with blood spurting out.

Michelle:

There she was, our daughter, surrounded by crayons, paper and an image of a human heart pulled up on the computer in front of her.  14 children had inspired what she would describe as good friends. People she would tell secrets to and who were fun to be around.  On the other hand, 9 children were getting an anatomy lesson.  A surprisingly accurate rendition of human heart because, they didn’t know how to be friends. They tattled on everyone, were not very nice and they just make you feel bad even if you’re having a great day.  I asked Taryn, “If you were going to give yourself a card, which card would you get?”  She told me she would get back to me.  

A couple days later, Taryn handed Chris and I our own Valentine’s cards.  I smiled as I looked at my card. It had a traditional heart-shaped symbol drawn on the front.  My smile faded as I looked over at Chris’ card with the blood pumping organ proudly drawn in the center.  At Taryn’s insistence, we each opened our cards.  

Mine read, “Dear Mom, I love you with my whole heart, but I knew you wouldn’t want the real thing on your card.  You asked me which card I would give myself. I decided I would give myself a half and half.  Sometimes, I am super fun and sometimes not so much.”  

Chris:

Mine read, “Dear Dad, Thanks for teaching me about what a human heart really looks like.  The kids in class don’t know why I gave two different cards.  But, do you think that since they don’t know our secret, they might think a real heart means I like them more.  Maybe they just need people to love them more because they are so mean.  Anyway, I drew you a real heart because my love for you is real.”  

While our running joke has been, “someone might need a heart card”, when they have been less than friendly to us, the lesson we learned from Taryn that day was no laughing matter.  We can all be super fun and sometimes, not so much. But our love for one another should always be a gift of our hearts.