Thursday, January 14, 2010

Drowning in Love Letters...

I discovered "Love Letters of Great Men" and it's counterpart "Love Letters of Great Women" while browsing through one of my favorite magazines (it was the February issue so everything was love and romance). I usually fawn over anything romantic so I didn't waste any time ordering the books from B&N. They arrived on Tuesday so that night I started with the men's letters...I got through a few, like Henry VIII and Mozart, they were very sweet but nothing really made me swoon. My expectations were perhaps unrealistic but on I read until I came upon a few letters Napoleon sent to his beloved Josephine...finally I was WOWED! They were fantastic, very passionate, very powerful...my favorite so far...on I read. Eventually I became so tired that I "cheated" and looked ahead in hopes of finding a man whom I knew would be nothing short of spectacular. I was thrilled to see a few letters written by Robert Browning to Elizabeth Barrett. This had to be it...afterall I heard their love story was one that could not be measured so I read the introduction and began the first letter...{insert heavy sigh here}...what a perfect, lovely, romantic letter, and his second one was just as good. I do believe I swooned! Who would expect anything less from a poet? I also found "The Wednesday Letters" but have not started reading it yet...it's about a husband who writes his wife a letter every Wednesday from the time of their wedding until their deaths (39 years worth of letters, what a lucky girl). Their three adult children arrive home to arrange the funerals and find boxes and boxes of love letters. They begin reading each one and uncover the "unimaginable adventures" and the "shocking truth" about their past. Ooh...sounds good huh?

I asked my husband why he doesn't write me letters anymore, he used to quite often years ago. He just laughed...you know, that sort of "don't embarrass me" laugh. This morning when I came down to let the dogs out there was a hand-written letter from him on the counter, it didn't compare to Browning's but I'll cherish it just the same. Maybe I'll start receiving "Thursday" letters each week, wouldn't that be fun?!

I didn't want to end this post without expressing my heartache and sadness for the people of Haiti. I seem to be drawn to the TV constantly hopeful that more people will be found alive and that enough supplies, nourishment and aid can get to them before it's too late. If you'd like to do something to help out, the Red Cross is in need of money to get the resources that are needed to Haiti, you can click here to donate. Also, please visit Rebecca Sower's blog, she has some very touching and powerful stories of her recent trip to Haiti as well as an Etsy store for her "Haitian Family".

1 comment:

Jessica Rodarte said...

In a minute, I'm going to head to Amazon to pick up "The Wednesday Letters." It sounds great. I know what my husband will say when I ask him why he doesn't write me love letters anymore when he gets home from work: "What for? I'm standing right here."
Charming.
I went by Rebecca Sower's blog yesterday. The intimacy with her Haitian family really makes the tragedy hit home.