February 1, 2, and 3

Hello, world!  Sorry for going dark on you there.  Vegetable consumption, as it turns out, does not make for inspiring blogging.  It does make for decent health (one slight sniffle for the month of January, not bad) and some slight weight loss (though a stressful last week at work undid some of those strides) and a lot of increased awareness of what, and how, I eat.  What will I take forward?  A salad at every dinner.  Raw veggie snacks for the afternoon.  Two veggie sides whenever possible.  A desire to do more to improve my diet, when I have the will power, and lack of stress, needed to avoid the things I should NOT be eating, more thoroughly.  Never did get to the introduction of copious quantities of leafy greens.  Perhaps in a few months we'll focus on eating again...

But for this month:  It's February and the world is abuzz with LOVE.  I personally have taken quite a liking to Valentines's Day over the past couple decades.  This is only surprising if you happen to remember the 14 year old who painted her nails black on Valentine's Day, in protest against the unfairness of a world focused on romance.

What that young lady didn't quite understand is that Valentine's Day can be about so much MORE than romance.  I suppose its easy for me to say, having landed myself a man and all, but the romantic love piece is almost a side note.  To me, these days, it's all about letting out the love you feel, all the time, towards ALL the people in your life.   It's about taking the time to let them know how much you care about them, to express your joy in them through hearts and doilies and copious quantities of glitter.

Really, its all about making Valentines.  Heart shaped love letters to the world.  An embrace with words.  A smile wrapped up in an envelope.  Taking the time to make the love I feel, tangible.

So for this month, I am writing love letters. They won't all be Valentines (though some of them will) but they will send out embraces and care  and I hope, joy into the world.

I will write 28 letters in 28 days.  Handwritten, with purpose and care, and mailed or handed by the end of the month.

Some of them will be to people in my life right now.  Some may be to people who shaped my life in the past.  Some of them will be to strangers whose story I know.  Some will be to strangers I will never know.   This writing to strangers bit-- You may remember I gave it a trial run in December when I came across this website with the mission statement of "The world needs more love letters."

Indeed it does.  I think I will enjoy adding to the count.

Anyone care to join me?  We can never say "I love you" too often.  Who do you need to tell, today?


Off to a slow start with blogging but here are my first 3 letters, ready to go out tomorrow.  Two to strangers, one to family....

And here is my letter writing bin.  I went through all my old stationary (some of which I used for letter writing back when I was that angsty 14 year old...) and combined it here.  Excited to see how much I can go through this month!