79 years old love letter written by my grandfather
During my last trip to Europe, my mother showed me some old letters and documents she had preserved from her parents. I knew from her stories that my grandfather was a very talented person, but since I never met him, I did not know to what extent. A few of these old letters really got my attention; among them, the one below with two beautiful angels sharing a heart. I found it appropriate for St. Valentine.
Image source: @2018lymepoet
The image above is photo of an old love letter handwritten by grandfather and mailed to my grand mother back in 1939. The drawings are still visible, but the handwriting is extremely faded. As you can see, the letter is dated 18-XII-1939. That's 79 years ago!
The letter was written in old Romanian language and by the looks of it, seems to have a poem structured in two quatrains, called "Memories". Within the heart, you can also read Virgilio and Maria, my grandparents names.
When I enlarged the image, hoping I would be able to make some sense to these scribbles, I saw that the words turned grainy. Unfortunately I couldn't understand more than couple of words from the first quatrain.
Luckily I managed to read the four stanzas of the second quatrain.
Here is the translation:
"If I'd take my heart out of chest,
it will write a book on its own
scribbling each day about you
the most wonderful woman I know."
While I was trying to decipher the letter, I could not stop thinking of what an impact this letter must have had on my grandmother. Nearly eighty years ago, writing was the only way to communicate. Given that my grandparents lived in two different countries for almost one year, I can imagine the excitement of receiving such a beautiful letter.
Next year, this jewel of a letter will be consider an antique, as it will pass the 80 years old mark.
Now I know from which side of the family I got my writing skills and love for drawing and poetry!
#teamgirlpowa #thealliance #teamcanada #steemsugars
Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to resteemit or upvote it!
Please leave your feedback in the comments, I would love to hear your thoughts!
@2018 LaviPicu aka The Lyme Poet. All rights reserved.
Nice one! We would almost forget how hard communication was back then. Phones did exist but using them was very expensive, so letters were the mode of communication of choice for most people. It is nice to be able to see that for you i bet, since you never met your grandfather. Thanks for sharing that little gem with us!
Btw, you could try to use infra red light or blacklight to be able to see the first bit. I did something like that once, to the great surprise of the person who gave the totally faded document to me. I managed to turn up the originl after that and show it to him. It contained all sorts of info he didn't want or expect me to know lol...
@lymepoet,
@madevi is right ... try black light (ultraviolet). It'll will only cost a few dollars to buy a UV bulb and you can screw it into any lamp. UV is often used on old manuscripts to try to excite portions of the ink molecules that are invisible under "normal light."
I will try using the black light. Feels exciting trying to discover the missing words.
@lymepoet,
If that doesn't work, let me know. There are other techniques.
I'm curious, now, about how your GrandDad seduced you GrandMa. Technology changes ... people don't.
I don't care about modern political correctness ... it's a dance. The guys play their part ... and so do, the girls.
Thank you for your tips. I am curious to see what would the first quatrain say.
My grandma had no phone until 1975, after Grandpa died.
I grew up with the Party Line (phone shared by half a dozen households).
To this day everyone in my family hates talking on the phone.
Only in the past year has my mom brought herself to speak to the answering machine.
@lymepoet what TREASURE that letter is - the artwork an added jewel in the crown!
So romantic, thanks for that LOVE-ly tale! There is something about a hand-written note that is just charming, I fear technology may kill that form of communication.
I do share your fear as I see less and less people writing. Everyone is typing.
Bravo👏👏👏
Is this community #thealliance on discord? If yes, share the link.
nice ♥
She reminded me of my girlfriend's girl while she was preparing me a letter