A Love Letter from my late husband

Why am I writing a post about love letters on a blog aimed at over sixties? Because however old you are, however long your relationship, a love letter is the most tangible way that you can express your feelings to the people you love.

You tell them of course, you might even text them an ‘I love you’ or send a heart emoji, but none of those things endure. They are of the moment and then gone. A handwritten letter though can be kept forever, reopened and reread, and those feelings and emotions relived all over again. I know this from experience, because my most treasured possession is a love letter from my late husband Tim written in March 2001.

My Love Letter

Tim wrote me this letter to accompany the gift of a ring. I’m not a jewellery person and had never wanted an engagement ring or any other sort of bling. Tim had decided however to buy me a gypsy set diamond and platinum ring for our twentieth wedding anniversary.  Inside the ring he’d had the words ‘Always have been, always will be’ inscribed.

The ring was left with its accompanying letter for me to find one weekend when Tim was away racing. The letter made me cry then when I read it, and it makes me cry every time I read it now.

Here’s the thing. Tim was diagnosed with early onset dementia seven years after he wrote that letter, and a few years after that he lost the ability to speak. He could no longer tell me he loved me, but I had the letter, written in his own handwriting, and I knew how he felt. Tim died in 2021, twenty years after he wrote it. 

It’s a very short letter but it says so much. It encompasses him, the man, better than any video or photo ever could. I read it today and I feel him, the love of my life, my best friend, close to me still. He has left himself on the page with a lot of love.

Why you should write a love letter

We never know what life has in store for us. We know intellectually that bad things can happen, but in reality we live as if tomorrow will always be just like today.  So write a love letter, tell someone how you feel, even if they already know.

Here is my love letter from my late husband Tim.

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