Who writes love letters anymore?
What is a love letter anyway?
Ahhh…….. A love letter is a deeply personal communication that has the power to make us blush. A love letter has a way of “turning a bad day to good”, and creating heat in our bodies on a cold winter night. A love letter even has the ability to comfort ones soul for decades, upon decades.
Here we are in the year 2008 where I now write my thoughts onto a virtual diary, a blog as they call it. My words are magically stored onto a collection of digital circuitry that forms a gargantuan parallel universe – a web that is worldwide. In ten years or so there may not be any evidence of my words having ever been written here. This ‘blogging’ is a vulnerable whisper in this digital cacophony.
But what about hand written letters (especially love letters)? They are often cherished and saved like precious jewels more valuable than diamonds or gold to be pulled out from an old box stored in a dusty old chest years down the road. And in a moments time the words on that wrinkled, yellowed, old piece of paper pull you back to the sounds and smells of those yesteryears.
It’s been over a year now since I wrote my last real, good old fashion love letter - on a piece of paper handwritten with a pen. Far too long!! I use to write letters the old fashion way quite a bit before the invention of email. I often took the time to go shopping for the perfect card, then I would carefully hand write a wordy love letter full of fun descriptive words in long hand, spray my favorite scent upon it, tuck it inside the card, place it in an envelope, stick a 'spendy' stamp on it and send it off in the mailbox. WOW! What a chore.
Nowadays its common to key "luv ya" on the cell phone. OMG who now has time to sit in passionate solitude intent on our dearest of heart while inking letters one by one? Who has time for free imagining?
As of late, dealing with four kids, one pre-teen and four full-blown teenagers, we’re all vying for our turn on the computer to surf the internet, check our e-mail, and do our online banking. Who has time to write a love letter?
Well, I suppose fear could be a factor - Fear of looking foolish? Is this how we become shallow -- in the name of saving face.? We do many things to avoid embarrassment like conjure up excuses -- my penmanship lacks grace, or it’s just not my style.
Here's another one: “I don’t have anyone to write a love letter to”. A love letter does not necessarily have to be for a love interest. ‘Letters of love’ can be written to our children, our friends, or pretty much anyone who we have loving feelings toward. I received a beautiful letter from my sister-in-law last year after a close friend of hers past away. It was the first letter I had ever received from her like that, and we have been in-laws for 25 years. She expressed that life was so fragile and she wanted me to know she loved and cared for me. My eyes welled up.
Here’s one for the die hard Internet mongers: “I’ll just send an email, it’s quicker, and easier to edit, plus it has spell check!
By Golly…Write a Love Letter. It doesn’t need to be a special occasion, and it doesn’t need to be ‘Shakespearean’ – it just needs to be real. If you need a reason – come up with one. Don’t be afraid to go there and be honest. Use words that are descriptive and deep. You're allowed to take your time. Peer at a picture, stare into space, it's not against the rules.
Write a love letter to your sweetie as if you are seeing him/her for the first time. Send it to them via snail mail even if you live with them (very romantic!) .
Pull words from the physical images of life. Worlds like wild, aura, momentary, paper & ink, and the flavor of red.
Interject lovely phrases such as: you changed my life forever, this is the kind of love that makes you think anything is possible, yes - we’ve been down a few roads, let’s let the storm bring us closer, it struck me, like a fool, I hear nothing but your voice, I have been a half-hour writing this thing – and still my words fall short of describing what burns in my heart, I never thought I had any more to give, I enjoy finding you over and over again in my life, You are my confidant, my voice of reason, my voice of sanity.
Of course, one thing leads to another and things could even get juicy! (giggle)
WOW! I need to go write a love letter!
"I have just unlocked my little box and found your letter -- and the world has drifted off a thousand miles and left me alone with you again," - painter Dennis Miller Bunker (1861-1890) wrote his beloved Eleanor not long before he died.
But what about hand written letters (especially love letters)? They are often cherished and saved like precious jewels more valuable than diamonds or gold to be pulled out from an old box stored in a dusty old chest years down the road. And in a moments time the words on that wrinkled, yellowed, old piece of paper pull you back to the sounds and smells of those yesteryears.
It’s been over a year now since I wrote my last real, good old fashion love letter - on a piece of paper handwritten with a pen. Far too long!! I use to write letters the old fashion way quite a bit before the invention of email. I often took the time to go shopping for the perfect card, then I would carefully hand write a wordy love letter full of fun descriptive words in long hand, spray my favorite scent upon it, tuck it inside the card, place it in an envelope, stick a 'spendy' stamp on it and send it off in the mailbox. WOW! What a chore.
Nowadays its common to key "luv ya" on the cell phone. OMG who now has time to sit in passionate solitude intent on our dearest of heart while inking letters one by one? Who has time for free imagining?
As of late, dealing with four kids, one pre-teen and four full-blown teenagers, we’re all vying for our turn on the computer to surf the internet, check our e-mail, and do our online banking. Who has time to write a love letter?
Well, I suppose fear could be a factor - Fear of looking foolish? Is this how we become shallow -- in the name of saving face.? We do many things to avoid embarrassment like conjure up excuses -- my penmanship lacks grace, or it’s just not my style.
Here's another one: “I don’t have anyone to write a love letter to”. A love letter does not necessarily have to be for a love interest. ‘Letters of love’ can be written to our children, our friends, or pretty much anyone who we have loving feelings toward. I received a beautiful letter from my sister-in-law last year after a close friend of hers past away. It was the first letter I had ever received from her like that, and we have been in-laws for 25 years. She expressed that life was so fragile and she wanted me to know she loved and cared for me. My eyes welled up.
Here’s one for the die hard Internet mongers: “I’ll just send an email, it’s quicker, and easier to edit, plus it has spell check!
By Golly…Write a Love Letter. It doesn’t need to be a special occasion, and it doesn’t need to be ‘Shakespearean’ – it just needs to be real. If you need a reason – come up with one. Don’t be afraid to go there and be honest. Use words that are descriptive and deep. You're allowed to take your time. Peer at a picture, stare into space, it's not against the rules.
Write a love letter to your sweetie as if you are seeing him/her for the first time. Send it to them via snail mail even if you live with them (very romantic!) .
Pull words from the physical images of life. Worlds like wild, aura, momentary, paper & ink, and the flavor of red.
Interject lovely phrases such as: you changed my life forever, this is the kind of love that makes you think anything is possible, yes - we’ve been down a few roads, let’s let the storm bring us closer, it struck me, like a fool, I hear nothing but your voice, I have been a half-hour writing this thing – and still my words fall short of describing what burns in my heart, I never thought I had any more to give, I enjoy finding you over and over again in my life, You are my confidant, my voice of reason, my voice of sanity.
Of course, one thing leads to another and things could even get juicy! (giggle)
WOW! I need to go write a love letter!
"I have just unlocked my little box and found your letter -- and the world has drifted off a thousand miles and left me alone with you again," - painter Dennis Miller Bunker (1861-1890) wrote his beloved Eleanor not long before he died.
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1 comment:
I may not be one for writing love letters, but I can certainly agree with the cherished status of physical paper and ink.
One of a small handful of cherished possessions is my notebook. It all gets converted to digital whisper as as a backup, but there is nothing like simply thumbing through the ink blotched pages.
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