Discover Walla Walla

Mrs. Benson, my third grade teacher, had a rule: On Valentine's Day each student will give every other student in the class a card and it'll be the same card. No candies or other gifts. You could write different notes on your cards if you wanted, but that was the only permitted difference.

Several of the popular girls booed.

Mrs. Benson raised her ruler and said she'd had too many problems in the past with selfish kids who counted their cards, and showed off how many they'd gotten, and sprayed the news to anybody who'd listen.

"Interesting," I thought. "Isn't that what everybody does on Valentine's Day? That's the point, isn't it? How else will I gauge my popularity?"

Third grade could be confusing sometimes.