Although it seems to be the one answer no one wants to admit to, I'm pretty sure my love language is gifts. So when mail arrives to prove that someone has taken a moment of their busy life and reserved a slice of it to send something to me, I feel truly loved. And when the timing of it is so good, I feel doubly loved -- knowing the gift is not just from the friend who sent it, but from God, too, who knows what we need when we need it.
Wednesday's awesome letter came from my American friend living in Russia who posted her letter from Finland. Everything about that is super.
Enclosed in the letter were the following: a postcard of intense cuteness! (It makes me want to read Pippi Longstocking.)
Also, amazing vintage photographs of people whose stories I want to discover or invent and then tell. Incredibly inspiring.
And this fellow is saved till last because he's my favourite. I love him. I love his smile. I love his awesome cap. I love his bony hands and how proudly he's holding up the fish he's caught. I love that he's sitting in a little wooden boat in some European sea. I love the cigarette dangling nonchalantly from his lip...
... and I love the writing on the back of the postcard, completely unintelligible to me except for the date: July 1949.Thank you so, so much, AL, for your full-of-joy-and-inspiration mail. I'm smiling real big!
Mail... how very, very exciting!
ReplyDeleteHello! I got here from Kristy's blog and was drawn in by your chocolate cake comment! Then I noticed that this post is nearly identical to one I wrote recently after receiving a letter from Russia. It's nice to meet someone who thinks along the same lines. :) http://lizinstpete.blogspot.com/2009/07/letters.html.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth -- how lovely to "meet" you! I'm going to pop over and read your post now :)
ReplyDeleteI am not sure whether to answer here or there! I do orphan ministry in Russia, so if your friend is involved with that, I may know her. I'm not going back until September, though. I'm enjoying your blog, by the way! I think we have a lot in common.
ReplyDeleteThat last picture is truly sensational. What a character that gentleman is!
ReplyDeleteThis is bizarre! I was just looking at the photo of this guy the day before yesterday, and wondering about his life story. I always think of Hemingway's "The Old Man and the Sea" whenever I look at him.
DeleteAlso, kudos for commenting on a years-old blog post. That was a fun surprise!