Saturday, December 22, 2012

The World Needs More Love Letters

Love is friendship that has caught fire. It is quiet understanding, mutual confidence, sharing and forgiving. It is loyalty through good and bad times. It settles for less than perfection and makes allowances for human weaknesses.

- Ann Landers

And if you want to read an extremely good book about love, then read On Love by Alain de Botton.

"We are in desperate need of clutching. Of holding one another closer in a way that was fiercer than yesterday. Of facing one another to admit how broken we are. And admit how we screwed up yesterday, but, as long as Tomorrow comes to visit in her bright red cape, we should start over. We should be closer. We should not worry so much about our image or our status or our need to always be right and just unplug long enough to see the need in one another’s eyes. It’s there. It’s living. It’s bright. "

"It is not a season to be merry and bright so much as it is a season to finally admit to someone else, “Look, I need you. I need you on every one of my calendar days. And I love you. And I should not have waited for the stores to don red and green just to write that in a card to you. And I’m scared. Really. Petrified. Really. Because our world seems pretty broken. And I realize I cannot fix that. But I want to do better for you. Is that ok with you? I. Want. To. Do. Better. In. Loving. You."

19 comments:

Tammy Theriault said...

i agree! you know, i miss letters in the mail. wish we could bring that back too!

Samantha Brinn Merel said...

I just love that quote about holding each other in a way that is fiercer than yesterday. This is great.

a.eye said...

Love, love, love the Hannah Brencher quote.

I think it is so important to do this throughout the year. One of the reasons I don't do holiday gifts anymore. Instead I do gifts and thoughtful things and notes and dinners and anything else throughout the year to let people know I am thinking of them and care about them more than on the designated holidays in December or on their birthday.

Unknown said...

I have a few family members who still write letters. I love that! And that quote, just perfect.
Merry Christmas Gina, to you and your family.

Gina said...

I write about real letters, handwritten, all the time. I love them.

Gina said...

You pinpointed the exact phrase that sucked me right into this quote... "holding one another closer in a way that was fiercer than yesterday."

Gina said...

Me too, a.eye.

We've talked about this before (and I have written about it before many times). I do the holiday and birthday gifts but someone is just as likely to get something from me on a day that is otherwise meaningless but meaningful to me. I saw an old friend today that moved away from my village many years ago. I hugged her tight and told her how much I missed her. We both had tears. Why haven't I written her?

I received flowers today from an extremely special friend with whom I have been through an awful lot. She lives right next door but her handwritten note and thoughtfulness an hour ago made me cry. She touched my heart.

Gina said...

And I have a few friends (one family member) that still writes me letters. I save them in my drawer. I LOVE them. There's something about seeing the written word IN INK that tugs at my heart. I love those quotes too. It's a pretty cool blog/website. Can't wait to read more from her.

Merry Christmas to you and your family, Jen. I miss reading you and need to catch up.

DEZMOND said...

I'm open for love letters, keep them coming to my address :)

Kinley Dane said...

I love this. Great, thought-provoking quotes. And there is nothing better these days than a real letter in the mail. They are so rare, that they become really special. And I'm the type that loves re-reading letters, and it's much more fun when it's on paper than when it's in an email.

TMWHickman said...

Beautiful. I hope that you have had a wonderful holiday with a house full of laughter!

Gina said...

You got it ;-)

Gina said...

I save "real" letters and re-read them often too.

Gina said...

Thank you Tina! We did. It was so much fun but I'm exhausted from over everything! Hope yours was wonderful as well.

lumdog2012 said...

I love the second quote. So true and honest. Welcome back! :)

a.eye said...

It's always amazing how small gestures make such a difference to us and to others!

Azara said...

I've always loved that first line. It's such a perfect description of love for a lifetime.

Gina said...

Me, too! And I love, love the idea of clutching someone you love very tightly

Kenya G. Johnson said...

I wrote my mom a letter for her birthday this year. Well it was typed but I did mail it. It was fun doing that. We wrote letters back and forth from Japan for about a year before we both got computer. Sometimes I would handwrite them, other times I would go to the library and use Ami Pro (remember that), type, print and mail.

I agree that the world seems broken. I don't care to watch the news. My in-laws have three tv's on a once, and at least one blares the news. Several times I questioned about the news, "What is WRONG with people!"