You're Not In Love, Charlie Brown

First of all, Happy Valentine's Day to all my readers!

I know a lot of people have problems with Valentine's Day, call it an excuse to buy cards and candy. Well...what's wrong with an excuse to buy cute cards and gorge on massive boxes of chocolates until you explode? You don't have to be in love to do that! ;)

Not that I did much for Valentine's Day. I did make myself a special Valentine's breakfast. I have some apples that are getting mushy, so I made Apple-Chocolate Chunk Wheat Pancakes. Other than that, I pretty much worked all day. Like yesterday, the Acme was steady but not incredibly busy except for during the 4PM-5PM rush hour. We had some large orders, but it was mostly couples buying Valentine's dinners, men buying cards and bouquets of roses and carnations, and mothers buying candy and novelties for their kids.

There was some trouble in my last hour or so. Two customers brought up several jars of Emil's Vodka Sauce with popped tops that were going bad and said there were more on the shelf. Unfortunately, they were right. Not only that, but the jars must have been there for a while, because the ones they brought back didn't smell pretty. I felt for the bagger who had to retrieve the other popped jars, then take the whole lot back to the trash area. (Oh, and the customers DID finally find some jars in good shape.)

Less than 20 minutes later, a man came around with some gum and a check he needed to cash. It didn't seem out of order, and the check did go through. I should have taken a more thorough look at the check, because a few minutes later, one of the managers came up to me and told me a customer was cashing starter checks, and we're not allowed to do that. The check she showed me was exactly the same as the one he gave me, with handwriting in the corner. I felt like such a fool. I can't believe I let that guy take me in. I thought I was so much wiser than that.

Needless to say, I was feeling a little down when I got home. Watching all those men buying flowers didn't help, either. I knew there would be no man with bundles of roses and carnations waiting for me at home. I sometimes miss having someone care for me that way. I haven't dated in four years. I just haven't really met anyone, and it's nobody's fault but mine.

Calling Mom helped a lot. She, Dad, and Keefe really busy right now settling into their new home in Erma. Apparently, they got rid of a lot of furniture before they moved. Some of it wasn't in good shape; other pieces didn't fit into their smaller house. She'd spent the last few weeks scouring Atlantic and Cape May Counties for new items and completely forgot about Valentine's Day. She did sound like she was in a good mood. My brother went away with a friend for President's Day Weekend and Daddy's on a fishing trip, so she had some rare time to herself.

I ate a Smart Ones Chicken Oriental meal while watching two rarely-seen, romance-themed Peanuts specials Mom sent me in the big box that came last week. Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown concerns the gang's preparations for Snoopy's big day when he falls head over paws for a pretty poodle. You're In Love, Charlie Brown is an early story that deals with Charlie Brown's eternal devotion to the Little Red-Haired Girl and his attempts to get her to notice him right before summer vacation.

As cute as Snoopy's Getting Married is, You're In Love really hit a sensitive spot with me. I WAS Charlie Brown as a kid. Yes, I'm female, I have hair, and while I did have crushes, I never felt as passionate about any boy in grade school as Chuck did about his beloved red-haired lass. Even so, I went through a lot of the same things he did in throughout my grade school years. "Friends" tormented me as much as enemies. Kids would call me names walking home and in the playground, and I was seldom invited to join sports or outdoor games. I often ate alone, wondering why the other kids didn't want to eat with me and figuring it was my fault. I still sound like Charlie Brown to this day.