Footprints on the Sands of Time: December 2010

"Is Love Alive?" This is a question that is asked by many the world wide. There are so many who have experience the pangs of a broken heart. So much of love and trust is lost today through poor relationships, both romantic and of a friendly nature. So many find it hard when they have been let down, forgotten, cast aside, or misused to have the desire to open their heart again. The odds of belief in love seem to decrease when the heart is hurt on repeated occasions.

There have been occasions when I myself struggled to believe that "love is alive". This year in particular I have lost two good friends to misunderstanding and miscommunication. One a family friend of 10 years. It is funny how it can take so long to build a friendship and yet it can crumble so quickly with a few unfortunate events and misunderstandings. I have been slow to desire friendship or any sort of deep relationship following these losses. I think that is okay and maybe an indication of how I cared for them. I think I would rather be accused of loving and caring too much rather than loving to little.

Fortunately I have been showered with kind and patient people who have helped me rebuild the broken walls of my heart. I have been given so many opportunities to serve others and to help them. To me this is by far the best medicine to help repair the pangs of the broken heart, whether it be romantic or the pains of a lost friend. This blog is about one of the opportunities that has renewed my hope that "Love is alive", both Romantic and that of Friendship. In the following pictures you will see pictures of two people. They have dedicated their lives to each other for 64 years (65 this coming February 14th).

"Rich"

"Ginger"

These two people are my grandparents. Sometimes it is easy to ask, "How in the heck do two fantastic people meet, get to know each other, and find that they love each other?" particularly when there are so many things that can bombard our lives and the love between two people. What brought these two together was World War II. He grew up in a small town in Arizona and she lived in the bay area of California. A tragedy such as war allowed their lives to collide and allowed a love to bloom. This was not so uncommon, as their were many love stories that blossomed out of the war times, but not all lasted as long as 64 year of marriage and 68 years of friendship and love. Many love stories of WW II were short and fleeting while a good many ended early due to the tragic death of a loved one in the war.

The Salt Lake Temple where they were sealed for Time and all Eternity

Their wedding day February 14th, 1946

The pile of partially prepared letters next to the trunk they have been stored in for 69 years.

These letters are the evidence of the friendship that was built over while he was here in the states a year and the 2 years they were separated by the Pacific Ocean. Sure they had a friendship and loving commitment to marriage before he left to serve, but how many could and did remain faithful and continued to grown in friendship and love daily as they did. Not many! In total there are nearly 1000 letters between the two of them. Each of them wrote around 480 letters during the two year period.

This Christmas and last we spent sometime trying to preserve these letters. We came prepared this Christmas with two hundred plastic sheets and 250 separators that were acid free so that these beautiful words of love could be preserved. As we worked we quickly realized that we drastically underestimated the number of letters there were and the amount of space it would take to contain them all. Come to find that we will need 300 more plastic sheets, 250 more separators and 10 more binders to fit them all. Well, we got a good start and it was a lovely experience. I was reminded with physical evidence that "Love is Alive"

Grandma hard at work on the letters.

Me working/reading the enchanting letters.

Grandma hugging her letters and remembering those romantic words.

Grandpa next to a portion of his pile of romantic words.

1/3 of his letters preserved.

less than 1/3 of Grandma's letters.

The remaining 2/3 to finish another trip.

One book of 100 letters and most are 2-3 pages each.

Aren't they so beautiful

I am going to show a couple of my favorites. I have not read them all, but I chose a few key days, like Christmas to read and share with any who need a boost on love. I will try to get back in here and transcribe them so they can be read.