Sealing it with a Kiss

French-letters

 

I just love when my blog evokes a response from many of you. When your sharing makes me feel like we are sitting next to one another, and the conversation broadens as others come in and tell their story.

Letters, hand written who knew that many of us do not receive them anymore, yet when we do we are pleased, and feel the sadness of not receiving them more often.

Futhermore what touched me most about your response to yesterday's post was the last letters you remembered, and or a letter that is now written in your heart.

Letters from a child, someone who has died, a long lost friend…

 

Antique-writing-things

 

Maybe that is why I have a thing about ephemera… the sense of keeping in touch, tangible history, storytelling… feelings and thoughts put on paper.

Connecting dots… heart to heart, pin to paper, expression.

 


Paper-bundle-c

 

Where do you keep your treasured letters?

Asking you that made me realize that mine are scattered: In a book, in my underwear drawer, pinned on a cupboard door…

French letters 19th century

 

Remember learning in school how to sign off a letter:

From,

Best Regards,

Sincerely,

Yours, 

Love, 

XOXO.

 

French Letter Slot

 

Did you see in the comment section that Elizabeth asked for pen pal?

Did you ever have a pen pal?

I remember that I met a girl from Nevada who was camping next to my family when we 

were in Fort Bragg. We became pen pals… Her name was Colette.

I loved being a pen pal.

I wonder where she is now?

 

French-Letters

 

Remember when I wrote about the WWII letters I found?

 

Or the Trousseau written by a young woman's mother?

 

Or Augustine and how she blushed when her Mother wrote: "Are you Cold?"

 

French-handwriting-child's

 

Letters from children. Yeah they are priceless. Did you see in the comment section the letter from the little boy who said, "Sharks, Sharks!!…" That still makes me laugh, so cute!

 

Paperweight

Paperweights.

Writing on the computer doesn't allow one to have the beautiful accessories that make a desk.

Stamp holders,

Address books,

Pens,

inkwells,

Stationary,

….

 

 

French-name

 

Let's promise to write a letter to someone sometime soon.

Pick the stationary,

Find a pen that writes,

Look up the address,

Sign your name,

Pick a pretty stamp,

Lick the envelope,

Carry it to the post office,

Seal it with a kiss.

Amen.

 

 

French-script

 

Did you practice your signature? Or did it just evolve 

 

IMG_4246

Write someone a love letter.

An early Valentine.

You might like:

Other People's Love Letters 

Dear Old Love

Oh and the famous Blue Airmail Letter… I almost forgot about those.

 

Letters blue

 

Have you ever seen this blog… I am sure you have.

Post Secret.

or

Letters of Notes

or

Today's Letter

and

In a Word Too 

 

French-letter-with-hand

The Letter.

Years ago when I lived in Paris, I remember French Husband handing me a letter from my brother Marty and his wife Suzy. We were outside our apartment, and I was so excited to open it, that even now tears form in my eyes, I couldn't wait and opened it right then and there. In the letter was a photo of their first child, the first grandchild for my parents, and my first niece Patti.

The awaited letter, the anticipation, the heart growing fonder, the letter coming containing joy!

 

 

18th century French letter

 

What message will we leave behind.

Let it be love, let it be promise and hope, most of all let it be us.

 

Letter

Wasn't this comment from Judy tender:

"The last letter I received was just a few days ago from my granddaughter who lives very far away. She wrote to tell me that her favorite doll's arm broke off and how she cried and cried. She was looking for some sympathy and a letter from grandma to help her feel better. That letter is on lined notebook paper, written in pencil, and has dear little drawings across the bottom of the page. It's a keeper too."

 

Letters-stacked

 

The random winners:

Julie Postle

Madeleine

Peggy Bragswell

Please send me your address via my emai.

Thank you, all of you, for the wonderful comments about letters!

 

Stack-of-letters

 

Thank you for giving me such daily joy every day these last six years in the comment section, your notes are encouraging, faithful and true. Thank you for your generous support to my blogging!

 



Comments

22 responses to “Sealing it with a Kiss”

  1. this was a great summary of the wonderfully thought provoking post from yesterday…i read every comment-well i do that everyday-but i truly poured over these…they have stayed with me…so beautiful….

  2. My boss is a doctor and every letter, photo or card he gets from his patients and every prayer card received from a deceased patient’s family is stacked on top of his bookcase behind his office chair. Maybe he looks at them when he has had a tough day and those little notes remind him of how much he is appreciated and specal people he has touched.

  3. I think I like this post sooooo much. I really must write a real letter soon. I occasionally send a card with a brief note, but that is it. I could feel your excitement at receiving the letter about the first grandchild for your parents. How very special!

  4. I have had many pen pals throughout the years from all corners of the globe 🙂 And I have even had the good fortune to actually get to meet quite a few of them face to face! Yes, I did notice Elizabeth’s request for a pen pal…if she is interested in having one in the Northeast, please pass along my information–thanks 🙂

  5. Congrats to the lucky winners! Corey, you hit on so many subjects about letters. I remember practicing my signature and then the squiggle below. I had a artistic friend who had beautiful handwritting in 5th grade. It was easy for Mom to get me to practice my handwritting, I wanted to write like Piper. I had a penpal all through school. She was a cousin x times removed. She lived in Australia. I would get Christmas cards with birds and summer flowers and birthday cards with snow scenes. I was fascinated! Thanks for the trip down memory lane. xoxo

  6. Well said Corey.
    I was in bed last night thinking about the letters and one came into my mind from my youngest daughter who is now 38. She was somewhat of a pistol in her teen years and I was afraid she would be living on the streets by the time she was 18. She was adventurous and loved to push all my buttons.
    After she finished college, I was able to breath again knowing she was on her way to adulthood. She moved out of the city to another college town and started University there. Not long after…I received a letter from her, pouring her heart out about how much she loved her Father and me, and how very sorry she was for being so difficult in her High School years. I cried as I read the letter to my husband.
    The letter now lives in my Bible, next to my morning chair. I see the folded letter everyday and it reminds me that prayers are answered.
    She is a successful Administrator for a Dermatology Clinic and treats me to all of the beauty treatments.
    The best years of my life have been in my 60’s because I can look back and see the work God has done in my life and in my daughters life.

  7. a bunch of treasured love letters from my late (first) husband are in what i call my “fire bag”. it is what i will bring in case of a fire and i have to bring just the most precious mementoes. i also have a letter tucked in my bible, from my daughter when she was a little girl, asking me for prayers for her to have qualities like confidence and creativity (spelled in little girl spelling). i can happily report she now has all these qualities!

  8. Marie-Noëlle

    Corey, I’ve enjoyed those 2 posts about hand-writing… (although they’ve made me feel guilty about my long letters that keep waiting here – 2 at the moment !!!)
    That paper weight is exquisite !!!
    I myself am fascinated by fountain pens, pen nibs,inkwells, … and all that deals with calligraphy.
    I haven’t started any collection though… but I love watching them, touching them, shooting them, using them,…

  9. Thank you so much for including the link to the WWII letters. That was the first post of yours I’d read, but when I recently looked for it, I couldn’t find it again. I so loved going back and reading it. I always wanted to know more about those letters and the people who wrote them. How did they fare?

  10. Corey I love reading your posts! I don’t have time to comment all the time anymore but your posts come to me by email and I click over quite often!
    I missed the earlier post about the letters – the past couple weeks have been crAZY! I remember writing letters to my cousin – who lived about 5 minutes away! We talked on the phone all the time and we saw each other quite often but we still wrote letters!

  11. This was my favorite blog post from you… letter writing is a wonderful tradition and ritual that needs so much to be kept alive… connecting our hearts to others…through the written word.
    Thank you so much for sharing with all of us.
    Victoria/FeminineChicBoutique.com

  12. Your post fit in so perfectly with how I spent yesterday. We just did some renovations to our bedroom and I was moving all of my things back into the room. I have three stacked baskets next to a cupboard and the small basket on top holds letters/cards from family members no longer living, my two girls, anniversary cards/birthday cards from my husband. I sat on the floor of my bedroom re-reading every single one. Some made me laugh, and others made me cry. Emails — especially e-cards? I hate them!

  13. Corey, I just love this post about letters. The pretty script is beautiful. I have some from Grandmother’s long deceased and when I take them out to read them again, I am the young girl with Gram’s voice in my head. Like time travel. I can even smell their houses! I keep my letters in my sewing box, but feel like I want to invest in a special box and pretty ribbon! Thanks for inspiring me! They are treasures and so are you! Love your blog!

  14. loved this! xxpeggybraswelldesign.com

  15. I wrote a letter just a month ago. It wasn’t on fancy stationery, just a piece of notebook paper, like a legal pad. I wrote to my son who I had just dropped off at college the day before. I wanted to let him know that we were proud of him and that we would miss him every day. I wanted him to go to the row upon row of mailboxes and open his to find a letter there, to stave off the loneliness of being 1600 miles from home.
    He texted me when he got the letter. Simply “Thanks for that letter mom.” But I know it meant a lot. My other friends dismissed the idea of sending letters to their college freshman. Spencer is more sensitive, cares more about that kind of thing, they said, but I think most anyone feels joy at being reminded on paper that you are loved.

  16. Jeannine, if you are interested in writing feel free to write me at adornvintage [at] gmail [dot] com! We’ll get things squared away and do some real letters!

  17. I love our blog. It is so soulful. The only blog I know that post meaningful prayers. I bookmarked your blog in my computer. May God bless you. Pamela.

  18. Beautiful post, Corey. You had a gift for storytelling and photography, that’s for sure. And how applicable to my life today as I plan on writing a few Thanksgiving letters to family today. Canadian Thanksgiving is on October 8 – just over two weeks away already!
    Thank you for always being an inspiration here on your beautiful blog.

  19. It was about 25 years ago. I was in Italy for 10 days, he was in Ireland. We wrote to each other every day. I returned to Ireland in 7 days because he had been killed. A couple of weeks after his death, three of his letters were forwarded to me from Italy. I keep them in a special box, tied with a silk ribbon. A concrete reminder that I was once loved unconditionally, and that when I married him, I married the right man. My love, my husband.

  20. pattwolverton71@comcast.net

    I would also entertain having a pen pal. I love to write letters. It seems everyone else e-mails. I grew up in England and now live in northern California. I am 59 years young. A mother of two grown daughters and two grown grandchildren.
    Perhaps Corey you could help me out. Thanks Much.

  21. I am a teacher, I keep all of the letters students have written to me over the years and when I am hollowed out listening to politicians tell me how to my job better , I take then out and read them and it refreshes my soul.

  22. My letter arrived! Merci!

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