By Michelle Shellabarger, Miss February 2015

I am a hoarder of books, memorabilia, and anything paper really. In this age where letters are seldom written, I’m grateful that I have never been able to bring myself to throw any out. I have letters that my great-grandmother wrote me, pen pal letters, and cards from special birthdays. On a quest to organize I discovered a musty box of love letters written between my husband and myself when we were dating. I had moved back to Panama to finish college so we had a long distance relationship for almost two years (meaning lots of letters, at least by me.)

There was a lot of hand painted stationary with some calligraphy. I had way too much time on my hands and was taking some art classes.) I re-read a few I’d written to him, and laughed at some of the mush and silliness of a twenty year old with time on her hands. Quotes of Shakespeare and lots of daily trivia and dreams of the future filled the pages.

If I was writing a love letter now, after over 22 years of real life, it would be so much different.
Maybe something special like:

“Babe, I love you because you unclogged that toilet last night in the boys’ bathroom and didn’t even complain.”
“Thank you for holding my hand at the funeral.”
“You are so sexy when you wash the dishes when you get home from work if I haven’t had time to get to them.”
“You are such a wonderful dad and example to our kids.”
“I still adore you.”