pure & simple love...

Last year I found a packet of World War II love letters at an auction. Bundled together with cotton twine, they were an accounting of a love that stretched across the world between a couple named Helen & Irwin. He was in the Navy and at sea...a world away from their little life here in Illinois.  

I have every letter written back and fourth...for almost every single day he was away from home. It is like being present for a conversation...I read his letter, then hers. They are sweet, sometimes romantic...but mostly I can see how much he missed her, and missed home and the simple things they shared. 

The speak of going bowling together, how much he misses her cooking...and how he is saving his pay to buy them a new home when he gets home. She is saving dimes for their little 'nest egg'. 

I can't tell you the last time a dime meant so much to two people.

And I cannot tell you how much I love that he started each letter with "Dearest Darling Helen"...

and how beautiful it is that his first line of his Valentine letter simply started "Twilight is gradually coming upon us"...unknowingly, this simple man named Irwin from a small town in Illinois was writing a poetry, of sorts. 

{sigh...}

So today I am wishing you a Valentine's Day full of the love like Helen & Irwin had. 

Simple....and Sweet. Full of little joys and appreciation for love and life. 

Happy Day, friends.