Shortly after Mr. Veen and I met and declared our mutual love and affection for each other he packed up and left me to go on a summer missions trip. I remember wondering what I would do all summer long without him as I sobbed tears only those newly and dramatically in love can. I even made a countdown calender which I posted beside my bed, crossing off the days until his return. But what got me through that long summer were the letters I wrote to him each day and the anticipation of his letters arriving in the mailbox.
It seems that good old fashioned love letters have become something of the past these days. But I still think there is something magical about receiving a hand written letter in the mail. To know that someone took the time to sit down and write thoughtful words, hunt down a stamp, and stick it in the mailbox seems extraordinary in this age of facebook, texting, and emails. And isn't there something special about seeing the actual hand writing of an ancestor? It feels like you know them just a little bit better even if you've never met before.
Not too long ago I stumbled upon the following love letter that Mark Twain wrote to his wife Lily. I think it is beautiful and inspiring in so many ways!
(letter via
ReadyMade)
Mark Twain to his wife, Livy
Hartford, November 27, 1875
Livy darling, six years have gone by since I made my first great success in life and won you, and thirty years have passed since Providence made preparation for that happy success by sending you into the world.
Every day we live together adds to the security of my confidence, that we can never any more wish to be separated than that we can ever imagine a regret that we were ever joined.
You are dearer to me to-day, my child, than you were upon the last anniversary of this birth-day; you were dearer then than you were a year before—you have grown more and more dear from the first of those anniversaries, and I do not doubt that this precious progression will continue on to the end.
Let us look forward to the coming anniversaries, with their age and their gray hairs without fear and without depression, trusting and believing that the love we bear each other will be sufficient to make them blessed.
So, with abounding affection for you and our babies, I hail this day that brings you the matronly grace and dignity of three decades.
Obviously Mark Twain had a way with words! I don't know how long he and Lily were together but I imagine them as a cute older couple. Speaking of cute older couples - is there anything more beautiful and inspiring than seeing two people in their golden years who are still in love?
I don't think so! Super cute.
