From: Tulsi,18 ,India
To: Sharath,18, India

Where ever i go, my heart looks out for you
when it goes to you, it never comes back…

From: Dave Rhodes, Palm Springs, California
To: Dorian Rhodes, Palm Springs, California

To my beloved wife, Dorian, on the occasion of our 16th anniversary…

As Pastor John Cowan softly closed his leather bound book with a smile, he looked at us and said, “I now pronounce you husband and wife”. A little twinkle in his eye betrayed his delight as he turned his attention to me and continued with, “You may now kiss the bride”. I lifted her veil and did so, right there in front of the author of the little leather bound book and everyone else in the room, including my mom, Mary Ann Kelly. Life had hardened her a bit by then but not enough that she couldn’t shed a few tears in disbelief that there was actually a woman on this earth who proved crazy enough to claim me as her own.

There were many other witnesses in the little mountain chapel that day – some that we could see and a lot that we could not. In the pews hewn of pine there sat her mom, Phyllis, and her maternal grandparents, Don and Peg. On the other side a few of my cousins watched and behind them were some longtime friends of mine. Friends of hers took up the rear on the other side, and eventually they all became friends of ours. Family from either side sat here and there and in the ether there stood the friends and family that we had invited with a prayer – her uncle Ted, my Dad, her uncle Robert whom she had never known because he was lost to a war of long ago, and others who stood unseen, but we could feel their love and approval of that day.

Nobody but the author of the little leather bound book knew for certain where we would be in sixteen years, but we hoped, and that hope held us together, along with contentment and most important of all, love for one another. On that day sixteen years ago I took Pastor John’s suggestion to heart and lifted the veil to kiss the one who I knew that I couldn’t live without, and she kissed me and the room full of the seen and the unseen approved and hoped right along with us.

Over the years we have seen changes that have challenged that hope. My mom has gone on to join the world of the unseen. Certain friends have drifted from our life together and are writing their own futures without us. We have been destitute and blessed, sometimes within months of either one. Sickness has at times battered us and depression has tried to make us widows. But through it all, one has had the other to count on, to offer support, and to lift up and cherish. One has had the other to love, and that love has made it all worth living.

Happy 16th anniversary, my dearest.

Dave & Dorian Rhodes

Palm Springs, California

Now 17 years married and still going strong!

From: Mary, Detroit, Michigan, USA
To: Keith, Detroit, Michigan, USA

From: Mary, Detroit, USA
To: Keith, Detroit, USA

I made this note by hand with pens, markers and colored pencils on a small scrap of paper just for you Keith.
Mary

From: People in the Sun, Baltimore, USA
Ten years ago today we met. I already wrote about that day here, but ended that post with my date taking a cab back home.

I’ll never forget, the next day, seeing Honey sitting outside the tube station waiting for me (even though I was early). We sat outside a bar, across the street from the Dublin Castle and then we went to see Swingers. That’s our movie. We continued walking in Camden for a while and I asked her if she wanted to come over and watch TV. I swear that’s what I meant, too. I just figured she was fun and it would be fun to watch King of the Hill with her.

We then listened to music and didn’t talk much. Then “Broken Heart” started playing and Honey started to cry. And I said, “I’m going to regret this,” and I kissed her.

I’ve tried to analyze this moment for the last ten years, and historians will continue my unfinished work, but I’m still not sure why I said that or what made me kiss her, just like she’s not sure why she started to cry.

Did my kiss have anything to do with subconscious male chauvinism? Did I think she wanted me to kiss her because of some kind of male fantasy of a weak female saved by her superhero man? Did her tears make me feel stronger? Was my kiss meant to save my princess? That bastard Jung made me think about that. I read Man and his Symbols and realized maybe I didn’t kiss her because I was a sensitive man but because I was an arrogant pig like the rest of them.

But I can leave all of that for the historians. Whether she cried because the idea of going back alone to America was breaking her heart or because on King of the Hill Bobby was forced to smoke an entire carton of cigarettes doesn’t matter today. And whether I kissed her because I wanted to save her or because I wanted her to save me is also meaningless, after all. Because now, ten years later, the love of my life is smarter, funnier, and more beautiful than ever, and I’ve had the best ten years of my life, and our best days together are yet to come.

And she’s pregnant, too, which is really cool. And more than likely, I’m the father.

People in the Sun

From: Laurel Gaylord, Pacific Grove, CA
To: …….

Author: Laurel Gaylord

From: Mary, Detroit, USA
To: (Sending Love To:) Keith, Graham, Sara, Erin, Pam, Linda,
Janine, Scott, Susan, Susan and 1 Million Love Messages

From: Rose Spinelli, ageless, Chicago, IL
To: Nelson (L), Vishnu

To me they are pure light and unconditional love.

Marie-Louise McHugh, Albany, New York
To: All The World

“Love”

By Marie-Louise McHugh – http://www.ateliermchugh.com/

From: Jackie, 50, Oklahoma, USA
To: To My Most Precious Daughters

Pam, 36, and Tammy, 33
My Greatest Gift from God