Sunday, February 14, 2010

Love Letters

I had absolutely no intention of writing a Valentine's Day post but then I started clearing out space for my loom. In the space where the loom will temporarily reside was a box of mementos taken from my mother-in-law's apartment after her passing several years ago. There are pieces of my father-in-law's stamp collection and a bulging envelope of cards and letters.

Poking through it, I grabbed a small handful of the correspondence and took them into the living room to peruse. On top was a letter from my father-in-law to my mother-in-law the summer before he began full time employment in 1956.

As I finished reading the first one aloud, Squidette commented "I've never seen a real love letter before, just read about them in books."

Pictured below is the original letter. Transcribed below are the contents for your enjoyment.

Dearest!

I received your wonderful letter today & am, of course, happy you miss me as I miss you.

Today I ordered a new pair of frames: charcoal gray shell for the upper half & silver rim for the lower half of the frame. Thus do you bend me to your will.

I visited H & R tonight for a hot dog supper & received an unsolicited opinion of you (I never solicit opinions about you). Quoth H: "Renee is a lovely girl." Quoth I: "I know it."

So you see my days have been uneventful, being composed of errands or visits. But I am glad for tasks to do to fill my time so that I have less time to think alone & long for you. I enjoy whenever the conversation turns to you & me because that is a topic I am very interested in. Yet I don't want to make a pest of myself & act like a lovesick youth who bores everyone with talk of his love. Personally I like to think about you, about things we've done & about our future.
I am so very happy that our relatives get along well together & we with them, because altho this is not a matter of paramount importance, harmonious relationships will make life less aggravating than it might be.

My eye doctor yesterday reminded me of how he had, 2 years ago, predictied how a trip away from home (at Columbia) would make a big change in my life and when I retrospect concerning this last semester & of the things accomplished in so short a time I feel amazed. I am thankful & happy & joyous & overwhelmed & satisfied & everything else that we're together & each other's. I can recall how I used to be afraid, at one time, that you would have another date & turn me down. Yet years ago I foresaw that when I would fall in love that everything would go smoothly, & it has.


I miss you, yet I don't mind missing you because whenever I feel sad I know that in a few days I'll be in N.Y. & seeing you.


I feel a bit nervous & uncertain about working. I suppose this is due to the novelty of the situation, just as I was nervous & uncertain when I was about to begin at Harvard & Columbia. I know that there are millions of persons who would love to change places with me because of my potential career & wonderful fiancee.
I wish I could tell you how much I love you but words are not counters of feeling but only express thought.

Love,
XXXXX
,
Marvin


(If you look at the pictures at the bottom of the last page of the letter, the first one is a frowny face and the caption reads "me without Renee" and the second one is a smiley face and the caption reads "me with Renee")

2 comments:

Mary said...

Thank you for sharing this glimpse into your in-laws lives.

Kristen said...

How sweet! We are losing so much personal history since electronic communication has taken over. (Mea culpa).
Your FIL should have copyrighted his smiley face!