I found it the other day. It fluttered out of the back of an old frame. My teenage self must have stowed it away there for safe keeping. The sort of safe keeping meant for love notes. Secret important stuff. I’d say affairs of the heart but that seems too intense for what this was. A note on simple lined paper. Torn from a school notebook, I assume. Written carefully in his best hand. The immortal words of Helen Keller. The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart. There’s no reference to the author. Credit for the words was supposed, I think, to have been credited to the note’s author.
Teenage boys are like that, I think. That’s what makes them scary wonderful to teenage girls. I’m glad to have evidence of that time. If it had been a text message it would be long, looooong gone by now. But there it was, fluttering from the frame and into my present. Reminding me. Making me smile. Memories of stolen kisses and teen angst. All of which seems so far away now, years and a successful marriage later.
I think of this as I sit down to write tonight. What are we leaving behind, Hubby and I. Is there a paper trail of memories for future generations to follow or is it all digital? Perhaps digital is enough in a digital world. As an elderly woman perhaps one day I will open a file and our story is there. Maybe my Facebook profile? None of these will ever flutter into my day. Drift in like a soft breeze bringing memories and smiles with it.
I’m thinking maybe a note or two tucked into old frames wouldn’t hurt.
Hi! I’m Suger; Chief Blogger at Suger Coat It. Blogging since 1901; love a casual ootd, taking photos + writing about things that irk or inspire me. I love wine and cheese, long days in the sun at the beach and spending time with my family. I make stuff for the internet. Which means I take photos, create content, write copy and devise social media plans for personal brands, small businesses and bloggers. You know, living the sweet life.
Nothing, *nothing*, beats a hand written note and people just don’t send enough of them anymore.
Guv and I got together via the internet and when it came time to prove to the minions at Australia House on The Strand in London, that we were legit and that no, he wasn’t paying me to marry him just to gain a Visa into Australia [he couldn’t afford me anyway – still can’t he reckons!], our paperwork to “prove” that our relationship was genuine and loving, was a mixture of hand written notes and cards and emails. It felt weird printing out our emails to hand over to a faceless Government minion to read through and we had more emails/digital media than we did hand written notes and cards and I imagine now, if we were doing it, it would mostly be emails/digital media we would be handing over. But that was the time, the internet was really starting to come into it’s own when we got together. I remember people were *amazed* every time they asked how we met and I would reply – via the internet, so it always made me wonder what those minions in Immigration thought when they waded through all our emails etc [there was LOTS].
I say *more* notes tucked away, slipped into lunchboxes to surprise and then to be tucked between book pages etc to stumble upon at a later date and be transported back to a certain point in the past!
I love that you shared this. Absolutely it would have seemed so foreign to people then, now not so much at all. It would be TOTALLY weird to hand over everything to a stranger to assess the relationship. Worth it, but so strange. You have one heck of a cool tale there lady.
More notes full stop, I think! Lots more.
It is a different world and one that has become more impersonal. Glad you found the note.
I’m glad too. I think I might spend the weekend stashing more of them. 🙂
This is the best post I have read today. Goosebumps and that gonna cry feeling. Loved it.
Thank you Toushka. xox
I love discovering things like that, or reading over old diaries when I do a clean out of the storage cupboard!
Yes! It’s the best. Like a time capsule, right there in your lap.
I love this. I think notes tucked into frames are a wonderful thing.
Funnily enough, I have some rough notes scrawled on loose paper in my mother’s handwriting. Found them and kept them. Shopping lists. Recipes. Wanted those things more than some of the more valuable. I don’t know. Evidence of the real ‘her’.
A wonderful thing indeed. I think it’s beautiful that you can have those small pieces of your mum. Just gorgeous.
I have a few old diaries from when I was a teenager and love flicking back through them. So many crushes and fights with friends, it makes me laugh how big a drama everything seemed to be back then 😛
It does, doesn’t it. Such a reminder of how seriously you feel it all when you’re a teenager.