A love like the 1940's

Nothing makes me swoon more then a good love story. Whats even better is when that love story isn't something made up in a book somewhere or from someones over-zealous imagination. Though I love my fair share of those as well.

In fact one of my favorite love stories is Pride and Prejudice. Which is merely a story and yet it captures my heart every time. The thing that keeps me so entranced with Pride in Prejudice is the honesty of it all. The love that develops between Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy isn't easy or delicate. It is a love story that at the heart of it shows what it means to fight for and pursue someone. Mr. Darcy gets me every time, his unseen character that seeps through him, along with his incredible awkwardness, leave me wishing he existed here and now and not just in a book somewhere.

However the love stories that have me swooning today, you will not find on any shelf. There is no reason that anyone should even know about them, except for the fact that they were preserved in letters and notes. Both from the 40's and both beautiful.

The first is a stack of letters that I happened upon. There were hundreds of letters, post cards, and pictures sent from a soldier during World War II back to his wife in Colorado. When I first picked up the stack I knew that I could not resist diving head first into their story. So beautifully preserved throughout all these years. It peaked my interest from the moment I knew what they were. When I finally was able to sit down and go through all of them they delivered more then I had expected.

Along with their daily lives, of struggling to stay in touch when separated by an ocean, was true raw honesty. Beautiful struggles which define marriages. One sided though they were, seeing as I only had the husbands letters to the wife. Here was a man whose character I can not attest to but who each time started his letters with, "My Darling Sweetheart" and poured out his affection and love to her.

In many of the letters were handouts from the church services he would attend, and words to his wife about keeping their faith strong throughout  not only their separation but their lives. This was beyond anything I even fathomed when I set out to intertwine myself in a rare piece of history. Into someone else's heart and soul. I fell in love with this story that was so tangible before me. It didn't have a fairy tale ending, in fact for me it had no ending at all. The letters ended but their relationship did not, for me what happened between them will remain a mystery.

The end is not what I seek, the journey of continued pursuing across sea and during the duration of time I was able to relive through someone else's words and experience was more then enough.

I love the far too set aside art of letter writing. It is such a beautiful way to capture a moment of your life that you can hold onto not only for yourself but for generations to come. To look back and see the sentiments of a moment of a shared life together is beyond beautiful.

Along with the letters from the 40's that threw me into a tizzy, was an old bible I have had for a little over two years. In fact their were two of them, given by a couple to each other on their wedding day in 1941. I only kept one of them though, I thought two might be a bit excessive. It is a black bible that is falling apart. The edges have come undone and pieces of leather are hanging off, papers are shoved into every crack and crevice, little reminders of who God was to her. Along with all of that is a handwritten inscription in the front that says,

"To My Dearest Sweetheart,
   May you have all the Happiness in years to come,
   and hold this as close to you as I do.
   Your Sweetheart,
   Frank 1941"

Short, and simple and one of my favorite things to read. By the looks of this bible that she kept for all of these years, it appears that she took those words to heart, as did her husband whose bible was in even more ruins then hers. Even more so then the letters this bible makes me weak at the knees. That is love, a love shared with the one and only true love. It awakens a part of me that longs for that to be the center of my marriage, the foundation. My heart leaps a little bit each time I reread those words.

Two men who were as real as it gets who struggled and lived and fought for things that mattered. That's what I care about in my marriage, that's what I'm willing to wait for. A love like the 40's. Not idolized, just real, raw and centered on our one true mutual love.

 Also these were two very different men, who used the same phrase" My Dearest Sweetheart". I'm all about bringing that one back.