Love Letters
Straight From The Heart
By Donna Elliot
P
oets wax lyrical about climbing mountains and crossing oceans for love, but how many lovers are put to the test? Neil and I met on a Welsh mountain, he proposed on top of the Matterhorn in Switzerland, and we crisscrossed many oceans to be together, including meeting in Austria on one Valentine’s Day for a Viennese Ball. Neil and I didn’t set out to spend nearly half of our first ten years apart, but career opportunities, a belief in the strength of our relationship and a shared vision for the future made it possible. Writing letters in airports, in coffee shops and at every possible moment made it bearable, and letters turned it into a journey of discovery. You are invited to share the intimacy of this journey.
16 May 1998 – UK “It is barely a half hour since I watched you walk through passport control and I miss you horribly, perhaps the feeling will ease with time, at the moment I doubt it very much. Despite my desperate feelings I know this is, in the long term, the best thing for us both and for our relationship. It is going to be hard but the reward of being with you in the long term is really worth it.”
4th January 1999 - Singapore “You are such an important part of my life now. I couldn’t imagine any dream that didn’t include you. When you left last night, I felt so alone that I can’t believe we live through these partings. I’ll just have to concentrate on all of the wonderful things that will allow us to be together again. Already I am thinking about where we can go in April.”
19 June 1998 – Singapore “Well, we’ve made it! I am sitting in Starbucks at the airport waiting for you to come through the gate. I didn’t think this day would ever arrive. I am so grateful that fate brought us together. I know love will keep us together. Now, you can at least picture where I am. You will have a second place to call ‘home’ – with me.”
31 March 1999 – Singapore “It is hard to believe we have survived nearly a year of changing seasons and scenery. Sometimes I get overwhelming surges of nostalgia, particularly when you mention the Spring weather there. It is all so vivid, the two spring times we did share.” Palms to Pines Magazine, January-February 2015 7