I think most of us probably remember the year when Valentine’s Day went from being a chance to exchange generic cards that your mother addressed to everyone in your classroom to an affair fraught with anxiety over whom the cards should go to and whom they might come from. For me it was sixth grade.
The two prior years had meant a growing awareness of boys and all that must be done to attract them—a complex code of rules and flirtations that I never mastered and fortunately no longer have to. But sixth grade was the tipping point, the last year before the melodrama of middle school. It was the Valentine’s Day when I felt, most distinctly, the thrill of getting cards from cute boys, the anguish of being literally passed over as cards were handed out, the embarrassment and excitement of the ensuing kissing game that sent us shrieking around the desks (Where was the teacher?) and the savoring of the stack of cards when I got home after school. Oh, how my heart fluttered when I reread some of those names. And what bitterness I felt when I thought about the girls who had been chosen over me.
As an adult, of course, it’s all very different—or perhaps not at all different— but matters of the heart still occupy much of our thinking, though as adults our focus has broadened to encompass not only romance but also cardiovascular health and even loving our neighbors. From the challenges of finding potential partners in the modern era of online dating and social media (see “The Dating Game” on page 84) to keeping your ticker going strong (“Heart Health,” page 113), to recognizing the depths of concern for others in our community (Caring City,” page 34), this issue of Birmingham magazine covers the bases for you.
We also celebrate Black History month with our feature on the new Civil Rights trail (“Common Ground,” page 80), our special diversity section and our back page “My Birmingham” essay, written by husband-and-wife booksellers who have located in the Black Business District.
There are endless quotes about the heart, but this year I think this verse from Proverbs 22 seems appropo: “A merry heart doeth good like medicine.”
