Love Letters

Dear Fellow Bloggers:

Rows of books line the shelves in the office shared with my husband. Several books have words in their titles such as ajax, java, spring, clouds, grails, junit. Words that mean nothing to me but if read and understood would, I suspect, have one spending an exuberant amount of time typing away on their keyboard.  Other books sharing shelf space are business, leadership, grammar, self-help, spiritual, health, fiction, the classics, and the list goes on. As I was browsing the rows of books today, one in particular begged my attention.

Entitled, “Our Country’s Founders” (a book of advice for young people) by William J. Bennett, this book is filled with a collection of wisdom from the men and women who founded our great nation.  Upon turning to the book of contents, my eyes fell on chapter two. Immediately, I knew why I was drawn to this book. The memory of the love letters I had read many years previously had made a lasting impression.  Chapter two is entitled, “Love and Courtship.” Beautiful letters, handsomely penned, for loved ones to carry off to their secret place and let their eyes linger on the pages, caressing each word with their fingers, one by one, as their thoughts carried them to the place only they and their lover could enter.

Many today haven’t, and probably won’t, know the joy of receiving a hand-written love letter. The advancement of technology has replaced quill and parchment with emails and texts. One has no need today to be taught cursive writing. Should they want to use cursive, they can pick the font from their drop-down list.

This is every ladies loss, as well the gentlemen.  Alexander Hamilton, penned love letters to Catherine Livingston, who was out of his league, and later he penned love letters to his wife. John Adams penned many letters to his wife Abigail and her to him. James Madison to Dolley upon finding she had accepted his proposal of marriage. In like fashion, a more recent president, Ronald Reagan pinned many love notes and letters to his lovely wife, Nancy. Below is just one of his love letters to her.  I ask you what woman’s heart wouldn’t melt to receive a hand-written letter such as this after 31 years of marriage?

Dear First Lady I know tradition has it that on this morning I place cards, Happy Anniversary cards on your breakfast tray. But things are somewhat mixed up. I substituted a gift & delivered it a few weeks ago. Still this is the day, the day that marks 31 years of such happiness as comes to few men. I told you once that it was like an adolescent’s dream of what marriage should be like. That hasn’t changed. You know I love the ranch but these last two days made it plain I only love it when you are there. Come to think of it that’s true of every place & every time. When you aren’t there I’m no place, just lost in time & space. I more than love you, I’m not whole without you. You are life itself to me. When you are gone I’m waiting for you to return so I can start living again. Happy Anniversary & thank you for 31 wonderful years. I love you Your Grateful Husband Love letter from Ronald Reagan to his First Lady Nancy Reagan.

Yes, I am afraid with the advancement of texting love letters have been replaced with: UR GR8 ILU  CYA L8R 2NITE 4 H&K. Emails of course are an improvement over text for expressing words of love. Still, hugging one’s lap top while curled up in bed to feel close to the person or in order to read the letter over and over again, just doesn’t have the same effect.  

A letter from your love you will hold dear until you breath your last, reading it over and over again reminding you of  love’s enduring promise. There is something about knowing your loved one held the pages you are now reading. Knowing they read and reread their writing before folding, sealing, stamping and mailing it to you. Imaging they were envisioning you as they expressed their secret longings and desire for you.  There is something magical about reading of someone’s professed love for you in a letter written in their own hand. For all those that have ever written or received a hand-written love letter as I have, you know the joy in the writing as well as receiving. You know how it draws you closer to the person.  Do you not imagine Ronald’s letters to Nancy through all those years had something to do with their continual great love for each other? 

With the art of the love-letter becoming a thing of the past, we are also closing the door to our children and grandchildren coming across them years later, having a glimpse into our lives and seeing us not just as parents or grandparents but as someone they could relate to. Someone that had the same emotions and feelings they may be having and trying to express. Those letters let them read about the love that was shared. Through those letters bonds form, a connection through time with their ancestors, over the most powerful feeling the world will ever know….love.

With gratefulness for your time and comments,

I remain, K. Jacqleene

Accessorize With What?

I took a spontaneous mini trip this weekend to the mountains.  The goal was to have a new experience of an outdoor Easter Sunrise Service.  I quickly picked out my outfits and accessories and hit the road, mountain bound.

The Sunrise Service was scheduled for seven a.m.. The weatherman’s forecast called for rain to begin at 10 a.m..  This would give plenty of time to enjoy my new experience.

They say meteorologists are correct 70 percent of the time.  Yesterday they fell into the 30 percent range.  Early the next morning, stepping out from under the veranda of the lovely hotel I was staying in, the rain was already falling.

Rain did not stop the service, however.  There was a quaint little church up on a hill for just such an occurrence.  Even though the church was in view and walking distance of the hotel, a small passenger vehicle (larger than a van but smaller than a bus – henceforth known as a vus) made several trips from the hotel to the church for those couples that did not wish to relive a Neil Sedaka song. (I wonder how many will get that reference…)

While I did not meet the goal of my outdoor Easter sunrise experience, it was on this vus that the inspiration for my first A to Z challenge emerged   Upon climbing the three steps and looking down the short aisle I choose row 4 seat A.  Would-be sunrise worshipers of all shapes, sizes, and ages soon filled the vus to capacity. There was something else the vus was full of..accessories!

Now granted, it was very early in the morning and all of us had stayed up longer than anticipated for a late night light show about creation, out in creation.  Amazingly however,  the next morning by 6 a.m. some ladies were in full make-up, beautiful outfits, coordinating jewelry, stylish boots, and beautiful scarves. This was quite impressive for so early in the morning.  I myself opted for the middle ground approach.  A quick touch of blush, mascara, and a hint of lip gloss would do.  A few men had put on their Easter best first thing with their prettiest Easter egg colored ties while other men went for a more casual look of jeans and shirt.  Still, there were other accessories that were present. Some that could be seen, others that could only be heard.

All of us put much effort into trying to look our best, dressing for the occasion, wanting to fit in or stand out for our style. Society dictates it.  We do our best to oblige.  Yet there are accessories we carry with us or leave at home everyday that seem to have become less important in today’s societal collapse of social skills.

On our vus trip all ears and eyes were immediately drawn not to the quiet, polite ladies and gentlemen on the bus, but to the three who chose the front seats and the center of attention.  One of the three was fully arrayed from head to toe and looked quite lovely. Soon her leg of the tripod collapsed when she boisterously began sharing her thoughts with anyone that cared to listen. All vus passengers were privy to her next planned wardrobe change, her refusal to cook or clean thus paper plates were her choice of dinnerware and food from a can with a pop lid is her usual meal of choice. The tripod still had two legs standing until the next one spoke even louder than the first, using self-defeating humor every chance she had which only served to make others feel sorry for her.  The last leg fell when the third turned to passengers in other seats and began to ask them personal questions of how did they sleep in their beds, without even a moment for, “Happy Easter”, or “you look nice this morning”, or “Hi, my name is, do you mind if I ask you a question?”. In fact, she barely waited for a response before she delved into her tirade of a terrible sleepless night and the coldness of her room.

In what seemed like an hour, only three minutes later we had arrived in front of the church doors.  Perhaps some of you remember the adage, “women and children first”.  On this Easter morning with the rain descending and everyone concerned about getting the best seat or any seat in the pint-sized church, it was every man for himself.  Chivalry was dead and not to be resurrected this Easter morning as a few men and boys jumped from their seats in a race to be the first inside. They didn’t even wait to open the church door for the lady with a cane struggling up the stairs they had just taken two at a time.

Obviously all of the aforementioned have a love for God or they wouldn’t have been up before the rooster crowed in order to worship their Lord on Easter Sunday.  It goes without saying if they have a love for God, they have a love for others.  By no means am I trying to indicate otherwise.  Being a spiritual person, however, does not excuse us from displaying proper social graces and good manners.  Indeed it should cause us all the more to exemplify said behavior.

Accessories?  In abundance. Along with the scarves, gloves, jewelry, etc.,  there were the accessories one doesn’t notice immediately until they are sprung on you without warning. The accessories of  poor manners, i.e., rudeness, being excessively loud.  The accessory of being inconsiderate of others. There were, thankfully, those among us wearing the accessories of grace, mercy and decorum which covered a multitude of poorly chosen accessories by the few.

In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, let’s all be mindful of this important social protocol. The next time we get dressed for the day and have laboriously picked out our outfit with matching accessories; all this effort can be for naught if the most important accessories of social etiquette and good manners are left at the front door.