10.19.2011

cutest thing ever? yes.


**this was on letters to crushes... and it kind of made my heart melt...


This is the letter my Grandfather read at my Grandmother's funeral two years ago. I feel like it's something I should share, and this is the place to share it.
"We were in the 5th grade and I asked if you needed a push on the swing.
You looked at me and smiled, but didn't say anything. I walked up behind you and gave you a gentle push, and that was the first time I heard your musical laugh. The first time I saw the twinkle in your eyes.
Our teacher snapped a picture as she walked by, collecting photos to show the parents at our end of school picnic that weekend. Remember, Liddy? You had on a pink dress and your shoelaces wouldn't stay tied. I always thought you hadn't learned to tie your shoes properly, but now I realize you were always moving so fast that the wind probably untied them.
In that shy boyish manner of giving you my favorite baseball card, I told you I liked you, Lid. And I've been telling you ever since. We became best friends. We were bandits and pirates; having adventures until the street lights flickered on. As we grew up we progressed to our first dance, our first kiss, our first fight. I learned that each blushing smile I got out of you was precious and treasured them. You told me your dreams, I told you my fears. Fears of war, of dying...of leaving you.
And now you've left me, Lid. And although I know you're not really gone, I'm still going to miss my best friend. But when I look at that black and white photograph of a mischievous boy with dark freckles standing behind a girl on a swing, smiling so widely with untied shoes, I know she'll be with me until I get to see her again. She'll be there reminding me to turn off the oven, to pray each night, to carry on with my days. She'll also remind me to put my teeth in so I don't scare the mailman again.
I love you, Liddy. You've been my crush for 62 years and you always will be."

2 comments:

Daryk said...

This is great :)

Camille Okelberry said...

i my goodness. I almost cried just barely.....