Love Letters

This summer I hung out with my grandma Lola, my aunts Molly and Cindy, and my amazing great aunt Marion.  I'd heard she had exciting family stories and some photos.  Unknown to her, she had more than photos.  In an Avon box behind her recliner, she had old love letters between three different couples in our family.  I read them all out loud, sitting at her kitchen table, carefully opening the yellow paper and ripped envelopes.  I read them in the order they appeared in the stack, deciphering penciled cursive and creative spelling.  I read their words, their handwriting, their adolescent poems of love and hope and 1,000 kisses, their sadness, difficulties finding work, the weights of baby brothers and the corn yield.

I scanned them all into my computer and am now, in the heart of winter, I am beginning to transcribe them.   It is a comforting and romantic, and exciting, process.  I notice details I didn't before.  Over the next few months, I'll post scanned images of the original letters and envelopes, along with a typed transcription of the letters.  Enjoy!