Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Valentine #AtoZChallenge

Valentines Day - each February 14, we are supposed to think of the ones we love. Nowadays, too many times, it is a commercial, "Hallmark" moment. (For those outside the United States, Hallmark is a famous maker of greeting cards, among other things.)  But during wartime, relationships of love become fragile.  Times are uncertain.  Bad things happen.


Several months ago, after relocating my mother in law, who is now in her late 80's, up here to be closer to her and other family in our area, we were hanging pictures back on the wall of her apartment after the move.  There was a picture that my mother decided not to hang.

It was a picture of a soldier, most probably taken during World War II.  But something made her want the frame.  We disassembled it, and found a letter, a note and another photo.

The note reads "A Valentine.  To the most wonderful girl in all this world.  May never another Valentines Day pass that we are not together. A kiss for you and a kiss for me maybe two or three million."
"Love, Stanley", the note concluded.  This, the photo we found, was a photo of Stanley.  The girl who was his valentine was my spouse's aunt.

And yes, they both survived the war, and married.  They moved to Tuscon, Arizona, had children, and farmed garlic among other things.  I met them once, in the late 1970's, when my spouse and I visited Tuscon.

Both Stanley and his wife are now deceased, like so many of "The Greatest Generation."


Like sands through the hourglass so are the days of our lives.

V Day in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.

11 comments:

  1. My love and respect for Stanley and his wife!

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    1. Thank you. They had a long marriage, and children. But they, like so many of their generation, are gone now. Our loss.

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  2. ohh how beautiful is this!! So special and sweet :) My husband and I don't celebrate V-day as such... we do special things but don't have a day for it :)

    A Whimsical Medley
    Twinkle Eyed Traveller

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  3. I remember finding a faded postcard decades ago (I was under 6) that my grandfather had mailed to my grandmother. He was out protecting Black Jack Pershing during World War I, and sent this wonderful note.
    Now, i have to see where I hid it to read it again!

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  4. I'm so glad that story had a happy ending.

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    Replies
    1. It did, and it didn't. More bittersweet, in some ways, but I left those parts out.

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  5. Yes. The best part - my son was there, and got to see it, too.

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  6. When my uncle Ned was in the service during WWII. He and this lady correspond though a pen pal. Later on meant and was married for over 50 years.
    Coffee is on

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  7. What a treasure! My grandmother kept all the cards and letters my grandfather ever sent her in a scrapbook that I still have.

    As someone who worked at a flower shop for ten years, I definitely have mixed feelings about Valentine's Day. It was also my mother's birthday so I always think of her on that day as well.

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