Valentine’s Day was easier to navigate 55 or so years ago.

We carted shoeboxes to elementary school. Armed with blunt-nosed scissors, stacks of construction paper and Elmer’s glue, we cut out red hearts and purple flowers and pasted them onto our boxes.

Well, the girls did hearts and flowers. We boys were more likely to cut out white skulls and black flags as a warning on our boxes: Avast! No boarding with any of that sappy lovey-dovey stuff!

We scrawled our names on the backs of little cut-out Mickey Mouse, Scooby-Doo or Bugs Bunny cards. The rule was you had to give a card to every single kid in class, whether you wanted them to “be mine” or not.

The dilemma for us boys was we didn’t want the girls to take those mushy-gooey words seriously. Except we each had our eye on cute classmates that we hoped really would swoon over that special Pepe Le Pew card.

Relationships would only become more complicated as the years rolled on.

Now I’m a widower in my mid-60s looking for love, but I still don’t know what sentiments to write on my Sesame Street Valentine’s Day cards. Or to whom I should give them. I think that rule about giving a card to every single lady in my circle of friends not only no longer applies, but is dangerous as well.

Even with that challenge, I am determined to learn the language of love once again, or finally, whichever the case may be. I’ve been researching great and meaningful lines that I can copy, like maybe one of these:

“I love you more than pizza.” — Nicole Tonelli

“I didn’t fall for you, you tripped me!” — Jenny Han

“I never want to be away from you again, except at work, in the restroom or when one of us is at a movie the other does not want to see.” — Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler)

Wouldn’t you just positively melt if I slipped one of those into your shoebox?

No?

Wait, don’t give up on love! I found others!

“To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia.” — H.L. Mencken

“Love is better than chocolate, but sometimes chocolate is easier to find.” — Judy Kain

“The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing.” — Blaise Pascal

“If love is the answer, could you please rephrase the question?” — Lily Tomlin

“I want to be the reason that you look down at your phone and smile. Then walk into a pole.” — Rachel White

“Love is a lot like a backache, it doesn’t show up on X-rays, but you know it’s there.” — George Burns

“Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you.” — Joey Adams

“People who throw kisses are hopelessly lazy.” — Bob Hope

“If I love you, what business is it of yours?” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“Romantic love is mental illness. But it’s a pleasurable one.” — Fran Lebowitz

“It wasn’t love at first sight. It took a full five minutes.” — Lucille Ball

“Falling in love is not at all the most stupid thing that people do — but gravitation cannot be held responsible for it.” — Albert Einstein

“Infatuation is not quite the same thing as love; it’s more like love’s shady second cousin who’s always borrowing money and can’t hold down a job.” — Elizabeth Gilbert

“Without Valentine’s Day, February would be… well, January.” — Jim Gaffigan

You know, maybe I’ll just wait until Monday for the after-Valentine chocolate sales and skip all the cards. As Peanuts creator Charles Schultz said, “All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”

Happy Valentine’s Day. Be Mine.

Send Snoopy valentines to Burt at burton.w.cole@gmail.com or on the Burton W. Cole page on Facebook.