by Jeremy ( California )
Dear Susan,
When I was helping my mom organize her papers, we found a box of love letters from my dad. Luckily they were written to her. We both got pretty emotional as we read them.
It was easy to see why she has saved them all these years, but the surprise was in my dad’s words. I felt like I was watching a movie about two people falling in love, not reading sentimental mush my dad had written. I never saw that side of him.
That made me realize how much I love you and how much I want to do the same for you. And that I want to give you letters and mementos of how I feel. I’ve gotten away with saying a quick and sincere “I love you” out loud, but this is my chance to put something on paper.
This is my first love letter to you, my wife Susan M. H***dy. I cherish you more than my words could ever describe. To be honest, it’s the first love letter I’ve ever written but I promise it won’t be the last.
I don’t know where to begin, but I remembered back when we first met. I chased you around campus for a month. You never showed any sign of interest and was sure that you were ignoring me. I was getting frustrated and began to feel unsure about myself.
I thought I’d give it one last shot before giving up. I thought, who is this girl? How can I get her to talk to me? When I finally got your attention and it turns out you never even noticed me prior to then. I had been practically jumping up and down to catch your eye.
Then our first date, that went great. Second date even better. I don’t even know if I was making sense when we talked because your eyes had me all goofy. It’s hard to concentrate when I look right at you—by the way, that’s still true today.
I just wanted to kiss you right off the bat, but I wanted to be gentlemen. Make my mom proud and all.
And you kept answering my calls, saying yes to the next date. And when the time came that I knew your were my one and only, I think you could tell that I was nervous as hell with that ring in my pocket wondering if you’d say yes. I’ve never been that tense or anxious since, no matter what—job interview, stress from work or the kids.
Now look at us, you’ve made me the happiest man on earth for over ten years now.
Susan, you took a chance on me. I love you for that, and for making me the best man that I could ever be. I look at the lives that we’ve built and know deep in my heart that my life would never have been so full without you. In fact I think it would have been just the opposite. Without you saying yes, none of this would have existed.
I still get goofy when I’m trying to talk to you. You make it easy to fall in love with you again every day.
I cherish every moment with you, I cherish our family, but most of all I cherish the time we get to ourselves. Rare but appreciated.
You are the last sight I see before I close my eyes every night, and I have to tell you that is the best feeling in the world.
Love,
Jeremy