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Early into our marriage, I told Buck it was a desire of my heart to have a love letter from him some day. He understood that words were important to me, and he never seemed to mind that I was wordy enough for two people, when it came to expressing what was in my heart. Maybe that was another reason why God brought us together. I was never content to let someone else speak for me; I was always compelled to pour my heart into any card I chose for him. Though I was also verbal in my appreciation of him; I wanted him to have written "evidence" of my respect and devotion for him, as writing my feelings made it easier to convey the truth about how I felt about him.
After we were married for five years, we celebrated Valentine's Day by attending a Family Life Marriage Conference ~ Weekend To Remember, held in Hershey, Pennsylvania. We really enjoyed the speakers and it was good for us to address some topics we had never discussed before as a couple. One of the activities that was strongly encouraged was to write love letters to each other, much to Buck's dismay! I knew him well enough to know that such an assignment would be asking too much of him to produce during the weekend; so, I let him know that I had no such expectation. But, I also reminded him that it would be the best gift he could ever give me, if he was motivated to bless me in such a special way. He was so relieved that I let him off the hook! I didn't want him to feel pressured, knowing it wasn't going to be easy for him to try to put his feelings into words. However, he did promise that he would write that letter after we got home.
Nine months later, he kept that promise, and it was the most perfect way to celebrate our sixth wedding anniversary! It was my favorite gift from him by far and the best gift he ever gave me! In his letter, he let me know that he made a commitment to God and to a group of men, asking them to hold him accountable to fulfill this important desire of my heart. And to make it even more meaningful, he wrote it while he was hunting (since he had procrastinated and our anniversary was upon him)! I could picture him in his camouflage uniform, sitting and leaning against a tree with his shiny, white book in his hands and gun laying on the ground: looking up occasionally, to see if anything had sneaked up on him... the ultimate sacrifice for any deer hunter! I call that a demonstration of true love! I can't think of anything that I cherish more than that handwritten collection of my precious man's words, describing his love for me!
I have recently found a new, favorite writer. In one of her blog entries last week, Ann Voskamp described her husband, and it made me think of my Buck. On her website: The Holy Experience, Ann refers to her husband as the Farmer, and I want to quote her here: "The Farmer writes little with pens. He's a man who prefers to write his love letters with his life. If Buck had never written that love letter, I still would have countless, although less tangible, memories to treasure; because, much like "the Farmer"..."the Hunter" wrote countless love letters with his life, everyday. How blessed I am to have a real, ink on paper, love letter as well: one of the most powerful demonstrations of Buck's desire to make his woman happy!
