Tuesday, May 5, 2015

A Love Expressed




A Love Expressed


Love letters are a wonderful means of communication; when a couple is apart,  or perhaps is unable to speak the words one wishes to say, or just as a lovely surprise for the loved one.

I was the happy recipient of many such delightful letters in the 2 and a half years we went together before our marriage.  We were in a SDA Boarding school when we met; it was definitely against policy for us to spend much time together.  The time we were able to spend was strictly controlled and limited.  Of course, teenagers in a boarding school must be closely chaperoned. But mere rules will not suffice to keep two hearts apart which are  meant to be together.

Our first meeting was in the summer, at school.  I was there working to earn my entrance fee. It was lunch time, when into the cafeteria came Leland, his brother Norm and their Dad.  I was not sure who they were, but thought maybe they were Lamar VanTassel's brothers.  He had been my Pathfinder leader, and had told me about them.  They went through the boy's line and I went through the girls line.  We ended up at tables beside one another, and Leland pulled out my chair for me.  I had never been the recipient of such a courtesy before, and was impressed.  I said thank you, we smiled at each other and sat down to eat at our respective tables.  I sneaked several glances at him as we ate, and noticed he did the same to me, but no more words were exchanged that I can remember. 

Several weeks later, when school began, there he was again.  Our class schedules did not mesh, he being a junior, and I a sophomore, but we did see each other in cafeteria each day;  always caught each other's eye and smiled. 

A few days after school began, the traditional ASB (Associated Student Body) all school picnic,  was held at Lewisville Park.  We all milled around the central structure, which is still there.  I was sitting on a log talking with my roommate. Leland and his brother and some friends were hanging around the area, standing in front of us.  I could not help but notice him-which I am sure was his intent!  An event was announced on the field below us, and before I could even rise from the log, Leland stood in front of me, stepped gently on my toe, and said "let's go."  That was all it took; we spent that entire happy day together, not yet knowing it was only the first of thousands.  We talked so easily, of many things as we participated in the planned activities.  By the end of the day, when we loaded up on the buses, and went back to the dorms, I was very sure he was the nicest boy I had ever met.
  
Once a week was couples night, when rather than the usual assigned seating, we choose with whom we wished to sit.  Leland asked me to sit with him at the very next Couple's night, which may have been the first one of that school year, 1963/64. I, of course, said yes. We were immediately once again in tune with one another. There was never a lack of subjects to discuss in getting to know each other under the very watchful eye of the faculty members.

Two hearts destined for a lifetime together will find a way to communicate-even when frowned upon.  So began the notes to each other.  Who wrote the first one? Undoubtedly it was Leland, for most girls waited for the guy to make the first official move in those days. I was no exception to that rule, but I do remember making very sure that he knew I liked him!  It was entirely mutual, though, as he also gave me no doubt that he found me very attractive as well

Very soon in our relationship, one of the girls who was in his class came to me and told me to leave him alone. "He will break your heart," she said, "he has another girlfriend in California that he really cares for."  I thought about that, but decided I was here, and she was there, and I would just see what happened.  We must have talked about it at some point, because in one of the  notes he slipped to me very soon thereafter, he told me he had said his good-byes to Lavonne, because he was really liking my company very much. Thus began the relationship with the love of my life.  I was only 15, he 17, but the love we first expressed through those notes has lasted a lifetime.
 
The notes we exchanged while at school, were all on some sort of lined paper, usually torn out of a composition book, or a steno pad.  They were always folded in quarters vertically, then folded into a small square, with the edges tucked into a diagonal fold. They were quite compact that way, easy to carry in a pocket and slip into an eager hand, or ask a roommate to give to his brother/roomate,  who would then give it to him.  Those notes could not be  passed  openly,  for fear a faculty member would demand to see it.
 
There are those who might laugh or snicker at those notes, and at us for being so young and so serious about our relationship.  I would not advise it today, but it worked very well for us.  We wrote many notes to each other,  went to every couples night, and every mixed play period we were allowed to attend  together.  When Christmas time came, the school went Ingathering on weekend  evenings. Different church members deemed responsible, volunteered to take out small groups in their cars, for caroling and collecting money for disaster relief.  Was that an opportunity!  We of course went, and managed to sit side by side in the back seat.  It was dark, and it was there we exchanged our first kiss.  I don't remember much more about that caroling season, nor who the driver was, nor with whom or what we sang, but I do remember those delicious kisses!

The notes continued through that year, and the next, our last year there. We were enabled to communicate thoughts and feelings, dreams and desires through those notes that we would have been unable to otherwise.  One day a few weeks before his graduation,  we risked a few moments to talk  after class right in front of the AD building.  I remember he told me he was nearly to the first of two major goals.  I asked what they were, and his reply was "to graduate from here, and marry you!"




To be continued....

7 comments:

  1. Wow! That's a wonderful love story! Thank you for sharing it. :)

    (I went to a boarding school, too. I remember the rules quite well. Glad I didn't marry the guy I dated back then, though!) :)

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  3. Lovely. ...thanks for sharing ! So sweet and romantic.

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  4. Thanks for the comments, Pat and Teresa, I appreciate them. Glad you waited for the right one Pat. I just knew Leland was the one for me from the beginning. Can't really explain it, just did.

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  5. I can't wait till the next installment! Loved it Eileen :-)

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  6. Also, i can't believe how much Cherilyn looks like you! Totally could have been her in that picture.

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  7. Leland was fairly self assured as I recall. Of course he was enough older than I that he was quite the cool cousin in those days. I can't think of him with anyone else and am so glad that he met you. I just gained another cousin. Thanks for continuing to share your story. Love you.

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