hmm

Not feeling up for deep tonight. It's ok- some days you got it- and some days you don't. Here's a fun fact from today- I have a large manilla like envelope full of letters from my Opa (Grandfather) to my Grandmother (the one I care for) and they are kick-ass. Like- scratch all the romance and war movies you've seen and come over and read these letters dating from 1943-1946. I am going to have to quote a few in the coming weeks as I sort through them.... it's almost too sacred to share and too sacred not to share- you know what I mean?

Which leads me to the question- what happened to those guys? I thought the movies and such were all full of shit- but guess what- my Opa knocks the socks of those pansies!

Here is my theory (this is as deep as I'm going tonight)... men in "those days" had a few things going for them. I may be wrong- but it seems that the sense of "proper" things actually made the vulnerability and intimacy they had with their lovers an especially special and unique thing. I'm all about intimacy and vulnerability all around- but I wonder if maybe the fact that some things were not kosher to talk about meant that it was especially important and nice that you had that one special someone that you could talk unkosher with. It's something to ponder. Then the other part of my theory that I weigh most heavily on is this: writing. Men had to write. There isn't the luxury of phones, texts, skype, or any of those things- but simply letters. Even my generation wrote emails in love before the cell phone became so prevalant that we didnt need them. Now it's instant gratification of communication- and maybe we kinda suck at the instantaneous stuff. Think about it- letters written on a typewriter or even by hand take time, allow for drafts, require at least a pause of thought. Speaking doesn't. Kissing even more so doesn't. So here are these men in boot camp and at war with nothing to satisfy their love-torn hearts than a pen and paper. That's when the magic starts.

I have asked my husband to write me a love letter- and I think he has a little performance anxiety about it. Of course he does- he doesn't have a habit of letter-writing, doesn't have a habit of serenading, and now that I've specifically requested it- it puts him on the spot. So, I won't ask for it any more- at least not in the near-future... but man- Opa's letters are awesome! I don't want to trade the absence of my husband for a letter, I don't want to trade the society back to hushing the word pregnant- but I wish we could get our letter-writing back on. It's only a recent phenomenon that we're losing it.

Now that I have seen that my dear stubborn German Grandfather was a respectful, funny, passionate man for my Grandmother- I want to know- was he special- or was that the norm for men? I mean- who doesn't want to read a letter addressed to "Darling" and with words like "I could never love anyone like I love you." These are just trite words in letters chock full of L O V E.

Do your men write you L O V E letters?