Lov’em letters

Last weekend, I finally watched a movie that everyone was talking about, The Notebook. In one scene, the boy was writing faithfully to his girlfriend and he kept this going every day, for a full year. She never received the letters because her mother concealed and confiscated them. When they finally met after many years, she accused him, "Why did you not write me?" He replied, "I wrote you every day." His letters contained all the loving thoughts and emotions he kept for her.

The scene reminded me of another movie where a young and lissome Jennifer Jones eagerly opened a letter from her war correspondent boyfriend played by William Holden, who was behind the enemy lines in war-torn Korea. When a bottle of ink accidentally fell from her desk, it became an ominous sign. Her boyfriend was killed in a bomb raid. Grieving Jennifer was left with a box of love letters standing by their rendezvous point atop a hill in Hong Kong. The letters were all she had left of their ill-fated love affair but under the circumstances, they were all she needed to stay brave and strong.

A love letter has that effect on almost anyone. It is not a brag tool. It is the most spontaneous, honest passion entrusted to stationery and ink. Writing is like talking except in written conversation you have the luxury of not being interrupted by call waiting or a recorded message saying "you only have two minutes left." Before the advent of the pulse and tone phones, one also had to contend with the curse of a nosy party line.

A love letter gives you the luxury of explaining what it is you like about the person without stumbling over words or worrying about feeling like a dork. You can take your time and think about the object of your affection again and again. When you are good and ready, you can write down your thoughts. You write them slowly but you want the words to come out as if they were not fast enough. You could barely contain your emotion long enough to move pen across paper. You are spontaneous.

The best way to convey this uncontrollable spontaneity is to practice. Start with a moment when you felt very much in love. It can be genuinely romantic like the time when you held hands under the full moon with a soft, cool breeze blowing on her face. It can be outrageous and embarrassing like when you discovered that you left your wallet at home and she had to pay for dinner. Describe it as completely as you can. How did you feel? (Tiny as a pea and with the brain of one, too).

Don’t bother about similes or metaphors. Your love need not be compared to or be similar to anything. It can just be itself. Simply put, it’s like what our language teacher would have advised: Stay candid and exact. I think it is so refreshing, it is so touching to receive a letter that reads, "I love, love, love you." You will feel several stories high to know exactly what it is about you that is so loveable.

Writing letters is also the perfect medium to confess your feelings. You are in fact encouraged to peel away those protective layers and reveal your true self. Proclaim, avow, and bare it all. Wear your heart on your sleeve, better still, stamp it on your paper with a pen.

Don’t worry about grammar and spelling, instead say exactly what it is that must be said. Love letters, like your love, rejoice in unexpected moments. There is no special time or occasion to send it as long as it is sent. Unlike the e-mail where there is a risk that anyone can hack through your system, your message remains a secret, truly a one-on-one communication between two very private people.

Nothing tops the rapture of sending love letters except receiving them. Through the daily grind of noise, traffic, and edging a living, we all need to know that we are loved and cherished.

When writing love letters, always:

1) Date your letters;

2) Buy plain paper with matching envelope or use special linen stationery with just your initial elegantly embossed;

3) Use a fountain pen or a thin felt-tipped pen;

4) Post your letter as quickly as when you opened the floodgates to your smitten heart; and, lest we overlook or worse, take it for granted;

5) Write love letters to each other in spite of children, anniversaries, mortgage and in-laws.