Do you remember your very first love letter?
My last Writers' Rest blog post about my childhood pen pals made me think about other forms of written communication from my childhood, mainly, my first love letter.
The first time I received a love letter was when I was in the sixth grade and I was eleven years old. I sat at my assigned desk during math class. When I was about to leave, I looked down and saw a piece of notebook paper under my seat. I picked it up and was shocked to see the words from a secret admirer...my secret admirer! I don't remember what the note said, BUT, I do remember that this person had taken a piece of masking tape and attached a nickel to the note as a gift for me!
Believe it or not, I never did find out who wrote me that letter! I recall being kind of upset that he'd only left me a nickel...it was the seventies and there wasn't much that you could purchase at the store for five cents! I recall wishing he'd left me a dollar instead!
After that, I don't really recall writing love letters very much, but, I remember my female friends in high school and college writing letters and secret notes to guys that they had a crush on. The only time I remember exchanging love letters was with my husband and it was via email. We met through an online dating service and while we dated we sent several emails to each other. As a matter of fact, we still exchange emails! :-)
So do you remember writing or receiving your first love letter? Who was it from? To whom did you address your first love letter?
Leave your response in the comments!
~Cecelia Dowdy~
10 comments:
Your post made me laugh. You were a gold digger in the making. Glad it didn't stick. I wrote my first love letter in first grade. Around 7th grade I rec'd a few from my step sister's cousin whom we visited in Indiana. But he was sort of a dork & I hated to see them come in the mail. I never rec'd letters from the guys I wanted to get them from. Until my husband. We wrote them for years, tho not so much anymore. Sigh.
Hey Teresa
Believe it or not, money is still important to me, I just try not to let financial worries and woes control my life. We try and ask God for help whenever we have financial distress.
Funny about your step-sister's cousin! I believe, I've heard a number of times that women receive the most attention from the men whom they DON'T admire! LOL!
It's been decades since my first love letter, so I have no idea what or when it was.
I can tell you that when my husband and I were engaged, we lived in different counties in Texas. We saw each other on the weekends. He would call me long distance on Wednesday night. If he didn't have much money that week, he would write a letter. I knew that if I received a letter, I wouldn't get the call. And his writing was terrible. I was a teacher and could read almost anything, but it took me a couple days to get his letter completely read. Love that man!!
Lena, that's so funny. Editing his letters was probably great exercise for becoming the fabulous writer you are today. Can't wait to see you again at conference.
Ceceila,
I think it is so cute and also sweet that you and your hubby still exchange love letters via email. Keep up the good work. Your children will benefit from your wonderful example.
Love,
Molly
My husband and I met working at a McDonald's between our two high schools our senior year. It was before cell phones and texting so we would write letters during the day at our different schools and exchange them at work later that day. I still have them :)
What would be so funny is whatever we asked the other in the letter, the one exchanged answered it...before we read the other's letter. What's funnier is I used to ask God about the man I would marry and He would tell my heart stories and when I met my sweet man, it was like the list I got from God was being checked off. Each thing happened. And my husband was in art and had drawn a picture that hung in his room before he ever met me and it looked just like me. I'm writing a novel sort of based on that but it's not about us.
I met a boy from a neighboring town when we went to 4-H camp. He was 11 and I was 10, but we were in the same grade. We exchanged letters, but I don't remember for how long. He still "carried a torch" for me in high school, so I'm told.
Good post. I loved Missy's comment.
@Lena - it's so funny that you had a hard time reading your husband's letters! I'll bet you wanted to grab your red pen and edit those letters!
@Molly - yes, I'm sure CJ (our son) will benefit from Chris (my husband) and I exchanging love letters via email!
@Missy - it's so sweet that you met your husband at McDonald's and you still have your love letters!
@Loree - that boy's childhood crush lasted throughout high school! Amazing! :-)
Cecelia Dowdy
Cecelia Dowdy
When I went on a bus tour I met a guy I think cos we were the younger ones on the tour we kinda became good friends and it was like a holiday romance. We went to the movies one night (dirty dancing) and when the tour was over I was staying a few more days and he sailed away on a ferry back to the mainland and then his home. It was so hard watching him go it was like my first time ever I have been in love (not sure it really was love but) We wrote a few letters it never went any further but the first letter he wrote I was one of the nicest girls he had ever met which was so nice. I still have this letter.
Jenny, how sweet that you still have that guy's love letter! Maybe you can look him up on Facebook!
:-)
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