Love notes

The enchanting and riveting Griffin and Sabine Trilogy, by Nick Bantock, is a series of creative storytelling of two unlikely lovers revealed through their correspondence. It is the perfect book for a coffee table or a musing gift and is a lovely testament to the art of the love letter.

I wrote a little love letter once to a smart and poetically attune boy on whom I had a sizeable crush in undergrad. After a fury of typing what felt like a dissertation with the thesis of "I think you're the shit" -- and which ultimately begged the question "do you like me, too?.... you know, like that?"-- I delivered it through the winter-spring snow, in broad daylight, and with bravado, to his mailbox. Then I ran back home and waited for a response.

I got nothing as I waited in twitterpated agony that at times hinged of the dark night of the soul.

So the next day -- needing to talk about this crazy thing I just did (I mean, was I too crazy? Did I cross the line? Was I off my rocker?) -- I took it to class, a small seminar contemplating 'What is a Woman' with 3 of my most favorite & trusted classmates and mentors.

"I gave him the letter." I said, exasperated.

"What letter?" they asked. I showed them the 2 page letter in all its stanzas. My professor read through it and looked at me. "well, he's probably never received a letter quite like this...!"

And, he hadn't, of course. But I think it made an impression on him. When he wrote back, it wasn't the answer I had hoped for, but it was kind and honest and just as lengthy a response about the nature of love. I was sated.