Are you buying your partner some flowers for V-day? (I’ve been known to give my man flowers.) If not, how are you making the day special for your significant other? New fishing gear? Dinner for two—at home? Out? Lunch box love note? Coffee in bed? Breakfast in bed? Homemade card? Nothing:)
Love letters …
Feel your heart rate quicken?
Who doesn’t love the prospect of a good love letter?
There’s a little something seductive about them,
and I’m not just talking about scented stationery and wistful words.
Love letters have a timeless quality, luring our imaginations through the pages of history like no textbook ever could, preserving memories for generations.
When my parents were finally tucked into their graves, we discovered a secret box my mother had kept in a cedar chest in our basement that contained every love letter, note and card my parents had ever given each other, some of them dated before they’d married. The letters my father had mailed back home while he was away at war made it seem like my parents were the stars of a movie we’d discovered for the first time.
You can imagine the thrill of an elderly California couple who were recently reunited with their own long-lost love letters after 40 years.
High school sweethearts Lloyd and Marian Michael married on Dec. 31, 1942, only to be separated shortly thereafter when Lloyd joined the Army Air Corps to serve as a mechanic in Europe during World War II.
Image courtesy of Graphicsfairy.blogspot.com
“I just lived for the day when the postman would bring a letter,” Marian said. “You know, it was the only way we communicated. The only way we had any touch with each other.”
(There’s that tingle again.)
Eventually, the couple accumulated a steamer trunk full of missives and memories that they treasured for 30 years of their marriage until their home was robbed, and the trunk of letters was stolen.
“We were devastated to think someone would steal our love letters and probably throw them to the wind,” Marian remembers.
The couple had long given up their letters for lost when Lloyd received a phone call from a stranger, a fellow veteran who had tracked him down through the military. Although he apparently had no connection to the robbery, the man had the Michaels’ letters in his possession and was compelled to help them find their way home.
“And they came home,” Lloyd said.
Just in time for the couple’s 70th wedding anniversary.
Makes you want to spritz a pretty piece of paper and start penning your heart out, doesn’t it?
I’d like you to meet Manuela.
She is a maven of mystery,
a practitioner of patience,
a survivor in the purest sense.
Manuela, I should mention,
is also …
a turtle,
a red-footed tortoise, to be exact,
and she has a story that rivals fiction.
Let’s just say that the Count of Monte Cristo had nothing on this resilient reptile.
You see, Manuela has been in exile for 30 years …
Here’s what we see from our office window that inspires us. Thank you for stopping by and for giving us this opportunity to share. Come again! What’s a sunset if you don’t have somone to share it with?
If this week has found you in something of a February,
midwinter
slump,
get ready for a ray of sunshine …
When I first heard of glacier calving, I thought, “what on earth?” I mean, what a strange term. Come to find out, it has nothing to do with livestock giving birth on a cold winter’s night. Check out this AMAZING bit of footage (4:42 minutes) but make sure you stick with it to the end so you get the “drift” of its magnitude.
On a scale of 1 to 10, I thought this photo of hubby Lucas working on our taxes rated a 10+. We’re happy to report that a couple of days ago Piper and Patch slept through the night for the first time.
Are you ready? It’s time to celebrate this holiday for an entire week! Beginning February 10 (today) and continuing through February 16, it’s National Random Act of Kindness Week. I know, I feel like we just celebrated the RAOK Day. I think there’s even a RAOK Month. Maybe this is because it really should, of all holidays, be celebrated year-round.
So what’s your plan? I’m thinking I’ll smile at folks a little more. Or give out more random compliments. We’re big fans of treating the next person in line at the coffee shop to a free coffee (or mint tea). Or leaving a little something (a Valentine, maybe?) on someone’s doorstep. Or … that person you’ve been meaning to pamper? This is the week! It’s official. (I love this stuff. It’s especially fun to do with kids. They GET IT big time.)
So, Happy RAOK Week! What’s your plan for paying it forward?
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
