We have a winner...

In a time when a lasting marriage is exceedingly rare, I love to read about a couple still so in love after 34 years. Love is not just a feeling...butterflies...a quickened heartbeat. It is a multitude of small actions; doing for another, not that it will benefit you, but that it will be beneficial to your loved one. I feel like this love letter embodied what love truly is. My Aunt Rita submitted this love letter for my contest. It blessed my heart, as I’m sure it will yours:


Dearest Heart of Heart and Soulmate for life,

I am writing this letter because your great niece had a wonderful idea to promote love the old fashion way.

You came into my life so fast and we married 6 months later. Wow...and they wondered if it would last and we will be making our 34th year soon.

How do I love you....I cannot count the ways.

There is love in turning on the coffee pot so I can rush out the door always 10 minutes late. There is love in not worrying about what's for dinner and if I am late you can figure things out just fine. There is love in going to Walmart at 9 oclock at night for something, coming home, and volunteering to go back without a complaint. There is love in the smile across a crowded room that says "we will get through this and go home, hang in there". There is love in telling you when your son dies "we will get through this together". There is love in a big guy, kinda like a Hoss Cartwright, who in his way asks for nothing but gives so much, who despite his imposing size has a gentle spirit which flows through his every fiber of being. Who gives from his heart always , and on occasion from his wallet, Giving rosebushes instead of stemmed roses which fade so fast.; Giving a bowl of homemade soup on a rainy night instead of a box of chocolate; being the best dad to the son I had when we married and being the best dad to the beautiful daughter which is a blend of both of us.

Yes, I cannot count the ways but I am a better person, a softer human being but yet in juxtaposition a stronger woman for being his wife.

So Aleta, there are those men out there who come into your life suddenly and without plan. I hope for you someday to find the man who will love you and cherish you. Then you will know what I have come to know by marrying your Uncle Wayne.

Rita