Applicable Love

Two of the Chookooloonks Love cards arrived yesterday. Both were very applicable.

Words seen backwards because I took the photo using Photobooth.
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One card was from a blogger called Tammy. The words stamped on the envelope were applicable, especially in light of the recent/current/ongoing project Dream House. DREAM was stamped on the front of the envelope next to my address. On the back of the envelope were stamped the words: LOVE and BELIEVE.

The card itself had the words: Love, inspire, dream, celebrate stamped on the front. Very applicable, since this is what makes it all happen. Without those things I would get nothing done.

Open the card and these words are stamped: XOXO, BELIEVE, HUGS.

Then: Love is a journey, not a destination.

True.

The other card, from a blogger called Jenny, had a Japanese design to the front and the Japanese symbol for the word 'Love'. The back contained the "I will greet this day ..." quote by Og Mandino, who seems to be a fascinating character. I'm going to read up more on him.

I Will Greet this Day

"I will greet this day with love in my heart. And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit.

I will love the light for it shows me the way; yet I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness as it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.

To do anything truly worth doing, I must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in with gusto and scramble through as well as I can."

~ Og Mandino (1923 - 1996)

(The last paragraph wasn't on the card, but it was on this version of the quote that I found ... and I'll leave it since it's applicable).

Give back to your heart

Two days ago I got my first card in the Chookooloonks Love Card Swap. Thanks, "Sweet Melissa".

The front of the card had a little red glitter heart in each corner and this poem by Derek Walcott.
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LOVE AFTER LOVE

Derek Walcott

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

And say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back to your heart
To itself, to the stranger who has loved you

All your life, whom you ignored
For another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

The photographs, the desperate notes,
Peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

The Very Day of Love

Chookooloonks has spearheaded another postcard swap. Last time the theme was Beginnings. This time it is ‘Love’ (since Valentine’s Day is approaching). I made my cards on Friday evening. I will post them today so they'll reach to their destinations ‘on time’. By ‘on time’ I don’t mean for V-as-in-Valentine’s Day specifically. In this case, V-Day can stand for "Very Day". Each card will arrive on the Very Day it is meant to be received by that person.

Speaking of love and postcards … when I was leaving St. Lucia, I got to the airport a bit early. To pass my time, I went across to the beach and bought two of those little smoke herring and bakes and sat by the water eating them. I then returned to the airport and spent my remaining small change on a postcard and some stamps. The card featured two dolphins leaping together out of the ocean. It was so beautiful, I wondered who I could send it to. On the back I wrote: “Dear Elspeth …”. I can’t remember my exact words now, but basically I wrote a short love letter to myself, signed it: “Love, Elspeth”, addressed it to myself, stuck on the stamps and dropped it in the little airport post box.

I’ve been back in TT over two weeks and the card, which should have arrived by now, has not. Maybe it will come on the Very Day.