Finally Ready

Dear friend,

In today’s world, kids are “falling in love” earlier and quicker than ever before. I was one of those kids who thought I’d found “the one” because I didn’t want to spend a single minute without him. Not surprisingly, I got my heart broken and spent the next couple of years trying to figure out what it all meant. I told everybody and thought I had concluded that true love didn’t exist and that I could find happiness in casual flings, and for a while, this is what I did.

Deep down I knew that what I had wasn’t what I wanted and what I said I didn’t really believe. But those feelings were confirmed when I met you. I was doing the casual thing with someone else at the time, but you caught my eye and eventually my heart.

You know that a relationship isn’t all about the physical or spending every waking moment with each other. You know that things aren’t always easy and aren’t supposed to be, and you’re willing to face and work through those challenges. You’re smart and opinionated and will argue with me until we’re both blue in the face, but you always end it with a laugh. And those are just a few of the things that make my heart skip a beat when I think about you.

You’ve recently had your heart broken by the one you loved, and now you’re going through your own time of questioning and wondering what love is and if it’s real. And it’s going to take time for you to come to any conclusions or make any decisions, much less to let someone else into your heart.

I still don’t know what love is, but I know that it’s real, and I know that I’m finally ready to try to find it. And if you ever feel the same way, I hope you’ll think of me, because I want to try to figure it all out with you.

With an open mind and an open heart,
Jessica

Across the Sea

Dearest one,

Across the street and over the guardrail and beyond the cliffs and through the waves and out, out, into the wide gape of the ocean, I watched you leave me. Fighting the breeze, my kiss lingered, swirling around my head before descending into the sea-spray to chase you. I’ll never know if it reached your lips; I turned around before it really had a chance, abandoning it the same way I felt you had me.

Across the miles of open sea, but now in a different form, I send you another. Because, as much as I want to, I can’t tell my lips to control their yearning for yours. I can’t tell my hands to cease remembering the smoothness of your skin. I can’t make my ears leave the sound of your voice outside.

I hope you’ve found safe harbor, as you will always be mine.

With love from land,
L
San Francisco, California

To Mexico

My one true love,

Today I suggested we flee to Mexico together, robbing a bank or convenience store on our path to freedom and happiness. You didn't seem too appalled by this notion, instead revealing your ignorance of proper bank-robbing technique, a shortcoming that I unfortunately share. What struck me most was your willing tone, half-joking-half-serious, that made me feel as if you were packing you bag and finding your keys, as if you were ready for the whole splendid adventure to begin. I think that's one reason why I love you so much: you buy into my visions, my ridiculous whims. I tell myself it's because you don't want me to feel silly, but secretly I believe I know why you do it. You know you belong there. You know you're supposed to be driving the getaway car southwest, watching the sun drag the darkness over our heads like a wool blanket. You know you're supposed to fall asleep in the passenger seat, holding my hand as I keep us going. You know you're supposed to hold me tight as we sit on the beach and wait for the stars to come out, kissing as we spot them, one by one. You know you belong with me. Even when I didn't know it, you did. So I'll keep thinking silly thoughts and you'll keep being perfect and we'll keep being in love, until I have nothing left that is solely my own.

Forever yours,
David

Welcome

It struck me recently that in today's age of "txting" and e-mail, the love letter has sadly fallen by the wayside. No more do you find the tortured lover hunched over a littered desk, placing feelings on paper before they consume him entirely; no more does she feel the smooth parchment and split the red sealing wax to be washed over with poetry and raw emotion.

In an effort to bring back some semblance of chivalry, even in electronic form, I propose a campaign. Take a minute and write a love letter. It can be to a real lover, to one you hope to meet in the future, or to one you've lost along the way. All I ask is that it be a genuine expression of what's in your heart.

So let's start something lovely: send your letters to submit.writtenbycandlelight@gmail.com and I'll post the best ones periodically. Be as personal or as anonymous as you like and let's see if we can make a change. Let's see if we can show the world how to love again.

Thanks, and get to writing!
David