My Letter Box

After a conversation yesterday with my best friend, I went into my closet and pulled out my letterbox. You know, the one with all the letters that I have received over the years. My letterbox also has emails that I've printed out - mostly from my college years.

So I sat down last night and started to peruse through the letters. Mostly looking for correspondence with TJ - who has been my friend for twenty years. I found some pretty interesting stuff!

I found a newsletter that must have been from 1993. She claims, as I read it to her, that it must have been something I wrote. I have a vague memory of the two of us sitting down at my computer and writing it. It's all about the life and times of Miss Me and Miss Her. It is funny to read through the names of our crushes and know now what happened with each of those.

This box is hilarious though - I have letters or emails from lots of people - including many people who read this blog. Since I have a funny memory (meaning that it chooses what I remember and when) it was great to read through some of them (I have two-thirds of the box left) and have this sudden rush of memories -and of people who have meant so much to me for different reasons.

Some of my favorites thus far include:

~ a letter that says 'Do you realize that a year ago I was dating jackass and you were dating bastard?'
~ a letter from one of my coaches in high school apologizing for handling his stress badly towards me 'The stress that I have been experiencing lately has little or nothing to do with you.'
~ a letter from my sister that she wrote in church with the 'Annoy Alan Song' lyrics in them. This song was brilliant in making my brother Alan full of rage. Her letter is also written with each line in a new color of marker making the overall letter look like a rainbow. I have several from her during this color phase.
~ a letter from my college crush apologizing - 'I turned around and you were gone'
~ a note from an employer (not mine) when I worked at an employment agency. He developed an enormous crush on my just based off of one meeting and a telephone call. He was saddened to learn that not only did I not return his feelings but that I was engaged. His letter, which makes me laugh and feel sick, is written to 'My sweetest Rochelle' and contains such blabber as 'I never had any intention of falling in love with you' and 'I (wish) I had known sooner so that I could sweep you off your feet.' Ha ha ha. Poor guy. What a heartbreaker I was (smile).
~ letters from my mom full of love, admiration, and chiding. One in particular was written shortly after I got engaged. I cannot read it all the way even to this day.
~ an email from my cousin and I, to my parents, about a particular crush, where they two of us wrote the email together, one in all caps, to distinguish our words. One of the best lines in here is from my cousin and she says 'he's cute, she's cute, together they're cute. according to us girls who are witness to the cuteness it makes us puke!! but that's ok, it keeps her out of my our faces in the wee hours of the morning.'
~ a letter from my younger brother written to 'Baby Shelly', that mentions that I am 'the bestest sister'. My favorite one from him is an email that comes much later in his life that says 'How are the boys? the girls are same old down here. So far I have had a lot more fun just going out with different girls then trying to stay with one girl'.

I could go on and on. Even reading through them now makes me laugh again. I am sure the next two-thirds will bring more laughter, and knowing me, more tears.

Regardless it was a wonderful way to reflect on the past - and to look at some of the relationships that I have had (and still do). One of the things I found in my letterbox was a saying by Kahil Gibran that I had in my dorm room and all of my subsequent college apartments. It really sums up what these letters mean in this collective little box:

'Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field, which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and fireside. For you come to him with your hunger and you seek him for peace.'