Writer's Block: Love on Paper

Do you keep love letters?

I have had my fair share of love letters in my lifetime. I don’t clearly remember the very first time I got mine. All I know is that it was from a boy whom I really liked in fifth grade. It was scribbled in pencil on a piece of intermediate paper.

I recall with fondness how one cutesy love note bore more cutesy love notes which led to something cutesy – more popularly known as puppy love. Alas, my mother read all the letters stuffed in my school bag and crumpled them into a huge ball of rubbish. Unfortunately I was too young to know the importance of stashing these precious scraps away from queer eyes.

I was 17 when I had my first boyfriend. He also wrote me love letters, which he’d usually hand me to my surprise. His letters didn’t say much, but were enough to make me swoon and fall even more in love with him at that time. I still have them, hidden safely somewhere.

My second boyfriend, who was sweet in every way, used to write me love letters with so much passion and creativity. One he had smothered in his great smelling perfume, another he had embellished with rose petals and tiny little beads and so on, never mind the bad poetry. (grins) I'd write him love letters too, with the hardest attempts at making mine more passionate and creative than the ones I received from him. I didn’t get to keep all love letters he had written for me, as I burned some of them after a bitter breakup.

I also keep letters from some admirers. I hardly ever read these notes but on instances when I pore over them, it never fails to flatter me knowing I have, in a way, experienced what it’s like to be adored.

In a world where everything is just a click away, love letters are slowly dying; its beauty nearing a halt. Hand-written confessions of love and affection are being conveniently replaced by email, text messaging and other techie means possible.

However, compared to these modern ways of expressing one’s feelings, the beauty of love letters lies in its surefire ability to draw emotional response. It can make you giggle, swoon, cry tears of joy or even embarrass you. Not to gloat, but I can only imagine how you’d react to one of my love letters which reads “What can I do? I’m deeply in love with you. I love you so much. ” Ha. I welcome whatever your response is, thank you very much.

If there is one thing I have learned about love letters, it is to keep them, or at least some of them. Love letters are a stark reminder of how you became someone’s inspiration. It is a written record of someone who poured his time and effort to weave words out of pure emotion, and it doesn't matter whether or not he is a gifted writer. Years from now, you will come across these letters and remember that at some point in your life, somebody loved you; that you were special in someone's life – even if the relationship is gone.

A book that caught my interest on the subject is the Xlibris release Love letters from the ‘60s by Chris Miller. This self-published book shows the bliss of first romance nurtured through love letters, which were written by a young Manhattan girl named Sally Logan to her boyfriend. Her love letters were intertwined with her weekly goings-on in the sixties – think Thunderball; Bob Dylan; the Mustang; space shots; Vietnam, race riots and many others. Love Letters from the ‘60s takes you back into the reverie of your first romance.