Will You Be My Valentine?

For our prompt of “Heart” today, I’m wishing you a very Happy Valentine’s Day with this little sketch of a couple of love birds. Though as adults, this day seems to end up being mostly about romantic love, there was a time when I was young that it was actually just a fun day to celebrate friends. I remember loving this day because I was able to create a fabulous box to hold all of the Valentine cards that I would receive from the other kids in class. I didn’t just make a box with hearts on it, I would create something ridiculously elaborate. For example, one year I made a box that looked like a Pac-Man arcade game, complete with a screen and joystick! You couldn’t actually play the game, but I was quite proud of that one. It was fun to get little cards from others, even when we weren’t really considered friends the rest of the year. And, it was often awkward getting a card from someone I had a little crush on at the time. That’s why I think that celebrating friendship is the best way to celebrate this day!

Philippe and I don’t do anything special on this particular day, having tried going out to a restaurant years ago only to find it a crowded and horrible experience. We made a pact on that night that if we ever wanted to truly celebrate our love together, that would include doing only the things we actually loved. As a couple of introverts, this means avoiding large crowds entirely. Indeed, though we’ve been together for over a decade now, we still seem to enjoy each other’s company each day. And, while we do spend occasional time with our closest friends, we spend the bulk of our time in our own little world. As an adult, I haven’t given little Valentine’s Day cards to friends, or made an elaborate box to store the ones I receive from them. Since I don’t ever receive any cards anymore, it would be a rather futile endeavor. That said, I have considered making one of those boxes, just for the fun of it. It’s really the only part I miss from when I was a kid.

Though, if you’ll indulge me, I’d like this post to be a special Valentine’s card that I’m sending to you! Thank you for being a friend of mine and reading my little rambles and viewing my sketches. If we were school kids again, I’d have printed this little image out and written something a kid might say like, “Hope your day is epic!” or “Hope you get lots treats!” While this doesn’t seem very adult, I really do wish those things for you, because that sounds perfectly awesome! Who doesn’t want an epic day filled with treats? Though, what I truly hope is that you’ll reach out to others and spread the love. We can all use a little more love in this increasingly wild and unpredictable world that we inhabit. Indeed, for all this day has become, it’s still just about a simple act of telling someone that you care. So, with lots of love, on this beautiful day of hopeful hearts, I’m asking the simplest question one can when they care about others: “Will you be my Valentine?”

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Charlie O'Shields

Creator of Doodlewash, founder of World Watercolor Month (July), World Watercolor Group, and host of the Sketching Stuff Podcast. Sharing watercolor illustrations and stories while proudly featuring talented artists from all over the world!

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