Love letters...

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As a writer I love to write letters. I also love to receive them. The art of letter writing has fallen to the wayside. Instead our mailboxes are flooded with bills and catalogues from Pottery Barn and Williams-Sonoma. When Winter falls Christmas cards fill our boxes, but even still, these days they contain nary a written word - nary a signature... We can still count on Birthday cheer but those seem to be diminishing as well. Instead of paper cards with thoughtful and heartfelt inscriptions my Facebook wall gets flooded with happy Birthday wishes - And while I do love those, they will never replace the beauty and sentiment of the written word. Gone is the excitement of going to the mailbox. I hear from friends via email and I suppose those are letters, but it's just not the same.

So this Valentine's Day I urge you all to write a love letter. It could be to a spouse, a lover, a best friend.... a sister, a parent or a child. You'll love writing it and the recipient will love to receive it!

Do you need some help or inspiration getting started?
Why not borrow from one of the following quotes?

Perhaps the most famous, in recent years, collection of love letters are those from former President Ronald Reagan to his wife Nancy...

Here is an excerpt...

State of California
GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
SACRAMENTO 95814

RONALD REAGAN
GOVERNOR

My Darling Wife

This note is to warn you of a diabolical plot entered into by some of our so called friends – (ha!) calendar makers and even our own children. These and others would have you believe we’ve been married 20 years.

20 minutes maybe – but never 20 years. In the first place it is a known fact that a human cannot sustain the high level of happiness I feel for more than a few minutes – and my happiness keeps increasing.

I will confess to one puzzlement but I’m sure it is just some trick perpetrated by our friends – (Ha again!) I can’t remember ever being without you and I know I was born more than 20 mins ago.

Oh well – that isn’t important. The important thing is I don’t want to be without you for the next 20 years, or 40, or however many there are. I’ve gotten very used to being happy and I love you very much indeed.

Your Husband of 20 something or other.

Isn't that magnificent? Doesn't it make you swoon? 

Johny Cash wrote them to June...

Hey June, 

That’s really nice June. You’ve got a way with words and a way with me as well.

The fire and excitement may be gone now that we don’t go out there and sing them anymore, but the ring of fire still burns around you and I, keeping our love hotter than a pepper sprout.

Love John

Jimi Hendrix wrote them too...

little girl….. 

happiness is within you….so unlock the chains from your heart and let yourself grow—
like the sweet flower you are…..
I know the answer—
Just spread your wings and set yourself
FREE

Love to you forever

Jimi Hendrix

Marlon Brando once wrote a letter to a stewardess he met on flight.

 

Dear Lady — 

There is something not quite definable in your face — something lovely, not pretty in a conventionally thought of way. You have something graceful and tender and feminine (sp). You seem to be a woman who has been loved in her childhood, or else, somehow by the mystery of genetic phenomena you have been visited by the gifts of refinement, dignity and poise. Perhaps you cannot be accredited with all that.

Irrespective of your gothic aspects, you have passed something on in terms of your expression, mien and general comportment that is unusual and rewarding.

It’s been a pleasant if brief encounter and I wish you well and I hope we shall have occasion to cross eyes again sometime.

Best wishes

Marlon Brando

Frida Khalo wrote them to her husband Diego Rivera...

Diego, My love, 

Remember that once you finish the fresco we will be together forever once and for all, without arguments or anything, only to love one another.

Behave yourself and do everything that Emmy Lou tells you. I adore you more than ever.

Your girl, Frida (It is sealed with her kiss)

So what do you think? Are you inspired? 

XOXO,

Jessica