Have you saved any love letters?

[Grampa Don]

I saved every letter my wife wrote me in the Navy when I was away, and she saved the ones I wrote her. I just finished going through them and organizing them a bit. It was sort of like reliving those days sixty years ago; sweet, but sad too. There was much that I had forgotten completely.

They are now bundled and stored in a little chest my grandfather made for my Mom when she was 18. I don't know what will happen to them, but I couldn't bear to throw them out.

 

[hawkdon]

Nope, cuz never got any!!!

 

[Marcy Sheiner]

I only saved the ones from the guy who was the love of my life and, sadly, died young (52). I've reread them once, when I really needed them.

 

[hollydolly]

I saved every letter my wife wrote me in the Navy when I was away, and she saved the ones I wrote her. I just finished going through them and organizing them a bit. It was sort of like reliving those days sixty years ago; sweet, but sad too. There was much that I had forgotten completely.

They are now bundled and stored in a little chest my grandfather made for my Mom when she was 18. I don't know what will happen to them, but I couldn't bear to throw them out.

yes exactly that... all the letters that my ex husband sent me when he was away at sea with the Royal Navy... ...

 

[C50]

I never saved love letters but I still have a small wooden box my highschool girlfriend made for me in shop class. Inside are a couple coupons for kisses, that's the closest thing I have to a love letter.

 

[PeppermintPatty]

I’ve never saved love letters for the mere sake that they were private and for our eyes only.

 

[IrishEyes]

I only saved all the letters from my son to me when he enlisted in the Army I had to watch him grow to a man from those.
He will get them back when I am gone.

 

[MACKTEXAS]

My wife was my first and only love, and since we met each other at work and saw each other every day, there were no letters. But, over the years, she sporadically kept diaries, notes, etc., and after she passed on, I found some of those in her closet. She had expressed her feelings toward me several times; some good, some not so good. I'll never know if she would be okay with me reading those papers. I saved them in the event I ever decide to read them again someday, but that is not likely.

 

[RadishRose]

no, got rid of all of them.

 

[squatting dog]

Nope, cuz never got any!!!

Same, same.

 

[Naturally]

Wow, that’s incredibly sweet. Meanwhile, I once saved a Post-it note from an ex that said “Buy milk” because she dotted her i with a heart and I thought it meant something. it didn’t <<< Spoiler

Glad your letters aged like fine wine. Mine aged like old takeout containers in the fridge ... mysterious, slightly tragic, and best left unopened.

 

[Oldeagle66]

As a horny young love sick soldier, I wrote a few, received a few and got a few dear John letters, but never saved any.

 

[katlupe]

I have a bunch that I printed out from emails from my present relationship. I am getting ready to get rid of them now. They were only meant for my eyes and I do not want anyone seeing them.

 

[Grampa Don]

I have a bunch that I printed out from emails from my present relationship. I am getting ready to get rid of them now. They were only meant for my eyes and I do not want anyone seeing them.

I suspect love letters are a rare thing now. Emails are more convenient but also more fleeting. I feel like there's something special about a message written by hand.

 

[Oldeagle66]

I suspect love letters are a rare thing now. Emails are more convenient but also more fleeting. I feel like there's something special about a message written by hand.

Agreed, I couldn't imagine doing that by email. To impersonal. Those have to be written out.

 

[outlander]

When we had the toilet paper shortage I was able to put my ex-wife's love letters to good use

 

[officerripley]

What are love letters?

 

[Grampa Don]

What are love letters?

In olden times, they were a way of showing affection over long distances. Now, they would have to be short because they would probably be texted.

 

[outlander]

In olden times, they were a way of showing affection over long distances. Now, they would have to be short because they would probably be texted.

And we would be sharing with our buddies Google and Apple

 

[katlupe]

I suspect love letters are a rare thing now. Emails are more convenient but also more fleeting. I feel like there's something special about a message written by hand.

Due to our circumstances he could not send me letters in the mail. Now he is blind in one eye so has problems writing. These emails I printed out and saved them.

 

[Imogene]

Can’t save something I never got

I do regret, however, not saving the letters from my then husband’s brother when he was in Nam.

He was shot and we didn’t know. But there was a sudden and dramatic change in the tone of his letters, that even his brother a discharged Nam Vet, saw the change. He was an awrse when he came home and for all that I know, remains one. I always thought those letters might have been useful to help him, had I saved them.

 

[Grampa Don]

Due to our circumstances he could not send me letters in the mail. Now he is blind in one eye so has problems writing. These emails I printed out and saved them.

The fact that you printed them out shows they meant something to you, and that's what really counts.

 

[Lewkat]

Nope.

 

[hollydolly]

In olden times, they were a way of showing affection over long distances. Now, they would have to be short because they would probably be texted.

I wrote so many letters to my ex husband when he was at sea .. that I knew his 8 digit personal service number off by heart... and 45 years later I can still reel it off.... and all the letters were sent to a BFPO address.. which is British Forces Post Office... because clearly when a ship is at sea somewhere in the world.. it can't be delivered to the ship itself by regular methods....

.. so the BFPO office would deliver sacks of mail to the ship about once a week sometimes longer sometimes 2 weeks.... so by the time I'd sent a letter to him.. and he'd received it.. and then sent one in return.. sometimes he sent 2... there could be as long as 3 or 4 weeks between correspondence.. not ideal when the wife is home alone with a baby.. as I was and were so many other Navy wives

 

[horseless carriage]

I suspect love letters are a rare thing now. Emails are more convenient but also more fleeting. I feel like there's something special about a message written by hand.

We have kept all of our letters to each other, they are as special as the photographs.
Don's comment resonated with me, I still write, that's hand write, letters to friends and family, I also write to officialdom when I get their mail, again I hand write.
One of the UK's national newspapers is known as The Daily Express, a former quality newspaper that's gone down hill. They had a feature, that I caught sight of online, about the decline in handwritten letters: