A forty-six year old letter

[murielm99]

In my old house, I had floor to ceiling bookshelves on one wall of my living room. In my current home, I have floor to ceiling bookshelves on one and one quarter walls, and under a picture window. I had these shelves built when we bought the house, because I have so many books.

I take my books off their shelves about twice a year. I dust and clean everything. Sometimes I discard books or replace them. A collection like mine, in a house full of readers, is not going to remain static. The books in the collection are read and sometimes reread. Sometimes, they are loaned out. The point is, these books do not just sit there.

I cleaned my bookshelves last weekend. In one book, I found a letter from a boy I had met during the summer of 1965. We had attended a two week music camp and six week National Science Foundation camp together. We lived in two very different parts of the country. We had very different backgrounds. But during those weeks, we spent every possible moment together. We thought we were in love.

We wrote to each other, a few letters, and then we moved on with our lives. It was such a long time ago. I don't think of him often. But he was an interesting kid, and we did have an impact on each other's lives.

A week or so before finding this letter, I had thought about him. I had thought about the contents of this letter, too. I assumed that I had discarded the letter long ago. What a surprise to find that the letter had been in a book, presumably for forty-six years, in a prominent place in not one, but two of my households. I wonder why it surfaced at this time, and at the same time I had been thinking about this long-ago romance.

[Tumbulu]

1. Perhaps you need to contact him now

I had a similar- only a decade, though- thing happen.

Suddenly an old friend was on my mind frequently for nearly a week. I tried to find her to talk/ e-mail /write, but got nowhere.

Then she called me!

[Kind of Blue]

2. Agreed! Even if it's just to say

I found your letter and it made me feel good.
I wonder if he's thinking about you, like Tumbulu and friend were thinking of each other.
Truly a wonderful surprise for both you and Tumbulu :)

[Celebration]

3. who knows?

Try to figure it out! I love mysteries.

[Fire Walk With Me]

4. Everything is coming up to either be cleared or celebrated.

Have a nice celebration :)

[murielm99]

5. Definitely celebration.

It was not usual for me to be able to feel good about myself for being smart. That was not completely acceptable in 1965.

This boy made me feel good about myself. He told me flat out that he liked me because I was the only girl he had ever met who had read more books than him.

He had his own doubts about himself, too. We had to date for awhile for him to admit that he was two years younger than me, a big deal back in those days. He had skipped two grades.

Nerds rule.

[get the red out]

6. See if he's on Facebook!

Or maybe just google him. I tend to be thinking of things or people and suddenly there is more and more that pops up along the same lines. It seems to act like a trail of crumbs in the woods for me.

[NJCher]

7. no mystery to me

You tuned into the unseen grid. Somehow you "felt" where that letter was, despite what your conscious mind might think.

I love the story. It is mysterious, nostalgic, and who knows where it will go.


Cher

[kimmerspixelated]

8. I love this.

I agree with FWWM, in that finding the letter is important to maybe dig deeper into for an outcome of some sort.. Yes, find him on FB! That would be so COOL!

[murielm99]

9. Would that be wise?

Maybe I am playing with fire.

What does Rick think?