Letters to Love

I found myself thumbing through a favorite old book last night and I decided instead of just thumbing through, I'd grab a few quotes and share them...That book is a book of famous love letters - one of my favorite things in the world, even though I usually get love-cards not full-fledged letters. I'm not complaining, though. Beggars can't be choosers!

Sometimes love has a bumpy path, as noted in these letters to star-crossed lovers King Henry VIII and Napoleon:


King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn (yanno, before he ordered her execution): “I beg to know expressly your intention touching the love between us. Necessity compels me to obtain this answer, having been more than a year wounded by the dart of love, and not yet sure whether I shall fail or find a place in your affection.”

Napoleon to Josephine (after he divorced her because she couldn't have children): My happiness is to be near you. Incessantly I live over in my memory your caresses, your tears, your affectionate solicitude. The charms of the incomparable Josephine kindle continually a burning and a glowing flame in my heart. When, free from all solicitude, all harassing care, shall I be able to pass all my time with you, having only to love you, and to think only of the happiness of so saying, and of proving it to you?”

And then there are those loves that continue to burn hot, long after first love has faded. I like to think this happens not because of luck or fate but because the couple work at loving one another. Through the good, the bad and the amazing. I actually have a book of love letters that Ronald Reagan wrote to Nancy Reagan over their long love story...some will make you laugh and some cry, but this one, I think, speaks to the heart of their love story:

Ronald Reagan to Nancy (via St. Valentine): Dear St. Valentine, My request of you is—could you on this day whisper in her ear that someone loves her very much and more and more each day? Also tell her, this “Someone” would run down like a dollar clock without her so she must always stay where she is.”

So, readers, do you love love letters? Have you ever gotten a love letter that swept you off your feet?

Comments

  1. ya know...I never got a love letter. Never read one either. Hmm? Guess that's why I love romance novels.

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    1. romance novels are like one long love-letter, aren't they Em?

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  2. I miss love letters! Miss reading words on paper and the feeling you get when you read it, knowing that person wrote it just for you! Great post, Kristina!!

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  3. I love LOVE letters! I used to get tons of them in elementary school...lol!

    Nowadays it's mostly in the card version, but still just as nice :)

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    1. Oh, the elementary school love letter...usually ended with the infamous 'check yes or no'. So fun!

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  4. I've never received a love letter. At least not like any of those. My letters from my husband tend toward the silly and that's fine with me.

    I do have a love ring, however. What is that, you say? In May 2011 my husband suffered a traumatic brain injury and I was suddenly thrust into the role of caregiver. I made life and death decisions for him, I was with him 24/7 through hospital stays, doctor visits and months and months of therapy. I was his voice when he didn't have one, his legs when he couldn't walk.

    He's 98% recovered now and last Christmas he gave me a ring. Inside it he had engraved, simply, "Thank you". It's the best love letter I've ever received.

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    1. Oh, Sharon, you made me tear up! I think it's wonderful what you've done for (and with) your hubby. What a wonderful way for him to show you how he feels.

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    2. That's so very very gorgeous and sweet and everything good, Sharon! (sorry had to interrupt to say that!)

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    3. That trumps a love letter. You made me tear up too :)

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  5. So love letters -- I've had a few, but mainly from chaps I didn't like. (always the way hey)But when I was young, I knew an artist guy who used to send me beautiful drawings in the post. I still have them, somewhere. (I hope...am now scratching my head!) Thanks for reminding me, Kristi.

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    1. oooh, love drawings! That would trump a letter for me, Cait!

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  6. I've never received a love letter either. My favorite one I've ever read or heard is from Four Weddings and A Funeral when Garrett dies and Matthew reads at his funeral. I know it's a poem but OMG--love that scene. "You were my east, my west, my Sunday best--"

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    1. Oh, that movie! Yeah, that is a great love-moment!

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  7. Never got a love letter til I got married. Now I have a trunk with a big bundle of them tied with a ribbon. They were from my hubby when he was sent to Saudi Arabia for desert storm.

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  8. I love love letters! Don't have many, but those I do, I treasure!

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  9. I love letters, too. The biggest love letter in my memory is when my boyfriend-in-Vietnam wrote my mom a letter addressed to "Liz's mom" (he didn't know her name) and continued to write here even when he and I were having a wingding of a long-distance fight. Left me no choice but to marry him. :-)

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