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September 2007 
Happy Valentines
Posted on Feb 12th, 2006
by 
Mikey
Mikey
This is a special issue of Hearts and Humor. I usually only
send one story a week, but today is a special day. I pray you all
have someone to love today.
Last Saturday, Ginny and I spent the afternoon in New York City.
We took a carriage ride in Central Park. I won the ride in a
love letter contest last year.
There is a gentleman who wants to spread love around the world.
His name is Henri Zimand. In memory of his wife, who passed away
due to breast cancer, he sponsored a love letter contest.
Out of 5,000 letters, I came in 15th.
Last spring, Ginny and I attended an awards breakfast ceremony
in Manhattan. We met Mr. Zimand and the top 20 winners.
The couple who won 1st prize had a love letter that made everyone
in the room cry. She is a breast cancer survivor. When she
was in the hopital recovering, her husband wrote the letter.
It was beautiful.
They won a one week trip to Monaco, where they stayed at one
of the top hotels in the world.
This year Mr. Zimand spread the contest around the world.
Today they flew the winners in for an awards ceremony in NYC.
At this time, I have not heard who the winners are.
You can find out at http://www.loveanda.com/
I entered several letters to the contest last year.
Here are all of them:
Blessed
My wife passed away in October 2003 from complications
brought on by years of alcohol abuse. I joined an on-line support
group for widows and widowers and met a wonderful woman - Ginny.
Her husband had died from the same symptoms caused by alcohol abuse.
In May of 2004 she moved from Charlotte, NC to New Jersey to be my
wife. I have never been so happy.
During the summer after we married, we spent a lot of time on our
deck reading. One day a memory returned to me.
Many years ago, when I was in my early teens, my dad was in the
hospital to have a lump removed from his neck. Across the room from
him was a man. We were visiting my dad one day, when this man's wife
came to visit. They kissed, she pulled up a chair, and they talked
for a few minutes. Soon they both opened their books, and for an
hour were completely content to just be together, no words were
needed. They took great comfort in just being together. After an
hour or so, they closed their books, talked for a few minutes,
kissed and she was gone.
This happened about 30 years ago, and the memory comes back to me
often. I remember thinking, "That is the kind of relationship I
want." Quite a thought for a kid in his mid teens, however, I knew
that was what I would like in a relationship.
Ginnny and I spend a lot of time out on the deck reading. The other
day we were reading, our feet sharing a stool, and no words being
spoken. Once in a while I would look up and say, "Gin, time for
an 'I love you break', She would look up, I would say, "I
love you, sweetie, and now back to our story." and I would read
again. A smile came to my face when I realized I have the
relationship I dreamed about 30 years ago.
I have been blessed.
Ginny inspires me to write poetry, something I hardly ever do. My
heart is filled with feelings for my new wife. I have to write them.
Here are two:
And That's You
When Life's storms raged with cold, snowy winds, There appeared someone special, warming my heart.
And that's you.
A life of winter had descended,
But a new spring came,
bright green hope.
And that's you
When death's ugly shadow cast deep, dark gloom, An angel swooped down New life
And that's you.
Life's choices, a series of doors.
Sometimes we choose, sometimes we're pushed.
New door opened; the path was clear.
And that's you.
Ginny, you are my warmth, my hope, my life and my path.
I love you and thank you for coming into my life.
Dear Lord
Every day I look at her
Every day I see her
Every day I feel her love
Every day I reach out, hold her, look to the sky and wonder what I did in life to deserve her.
At night I hold her in my arms
At night I feel her warmth
At night I hear her heart beat.
At night hold her hand, shed a tear of joy, look to the sky and wonder what I did in life to deserve her.
All week I feel such joy
All week I melt with every thought of her All week I look forward to being near her again All week I think of her, wait to be close her, crave her nearness, look to the sky and wonder what I did in life to deserve her.
In all my life have I known such happiness?
In all my life have I known such joy?
In all my life have I known such love?
In all my life have I known my Ginny?
I look to the sky and wonder, what I did right in life to deserve her.
Thank you Lord
I love you, Ginny.
Michael
NOW FOR THE LETTER THAT WON MY THE CARRIAGE RIDE
FEATHERED FIDELITY
It's a sad reality.
All relationships start with love and promise, but all too often we see them weaken, crumble and finally fail. It's too bad all relationships don't go to the birds.
I know that sounds strange, but read on.
Many years ago, when I was just a young boy, a small yellow bird hit
our front door. When I looked outside, I saw its tiny, unmoving
body on our deck. I opened the door to see if it was just stunned,
or worse, dead.
I was kneeling over it when my mom joined me.
"Michael, I think it may be dead. I heard the bang on the glass.
It hit pretty hard."
"Mom, should we bury it?"
"I'm not sure, Michael. When I first looked out I saw another bird
land beside it. It looked like it was trying to pick this one up.
I think we should let nature take care of this. Let's put it on the
roof of the car and see what happens."
We placed the unmoving, little bird on the roof of my dad's car and
went back into the house.
From our living room window we watched as the bird's mate flew to
its side, carefully grip the back of the dead bird's neck in it's
tiny beak, and with a strength only love and devotion could provide,
lifted its mate in the air.
It carried the body from the car, across the street, over the meadow
on the other side and into nearby trees. It flew only a few feet
off the ground. Sometimes it would get up to six feet high and then
the weight of its companion would pull it lower again. Its struggle
was great, but the desire not to be parted from its mate was greater.
Thirty-five years later, I stepped out of my home on a warm summer
morning. I looked toward my next door neighbor's -- we lived in
attached townhouses -- and noticed a single strand of a spider's web
strung from the bush by the corner of their townhouse to the wheel
of one of their cars. I thought it was strange for a spider to spin
such a web, especially just one tiny strand.
I moved closer to investigate. When I reached down to break the web
I discovered it wasn't a web at all. It was a piece of fishing
line. I gave it a tug and saw it was tangled in the bushes, and the
other end was knotted under the car.
One of the boys was sitting on the front deck of the house.
I remarked, "Looks like someone booby-trapped your friend's car."
He came closer to see what I was talking about. I gave the line a
tug. It was tightly jammed under the wheel of the vehicle.
"Strange, it seems to go all the way under," I said.
I walked to the back of the car and saw a robin. It fluttered to
get away, but the line, which was wrapped around its tiny leg, held
it firm. The poor bird flapped around on the pavement with only a
foot of line for it to move.
Sowly I approached and reached to grab it. When my fingers first
touched his feathers it squawked and flapped away from me. I moved
faster on the second attempt and managed to get a grip around his
trembling body. It squirmed and twisted its head to snap at me, but
I held tight.
The boy came closer for a look, and then went for a knife. When he
returned I realized he would probably break the poor bird's leg when
the knife pulled the string tight before cutting it through, so I
sent him for scissors. He came back and we carefully removed the
string.
The bird was free, but I held him a little longer, so I could remove
one last strand of the line from his tiny leg. It made a great
effort and escaped from my grasp. He flew low across the pavement,
under a row of mailboxes, and up into a tree.
It was free again.
Then I noticed a second robin fly down from a nearby tree and land
next to the newly-freed robin. It had stayed close by, as its mate
struggled for freedom, and would not have left until freedom or
death ended their relationship.
The birds I witnessed mated for life and the struggles that come
with it. Now don't you wish a lot more relationships would go to
the birds?
I know I do.
Michael Smith
Archived Issues: http://archives.zinester.com/86758
Access: Public
Wow, extremely heart touching! And I must concur… you are truly blessed and it shows in the writing of your stories!
Thank you, Ms.
Life comes and life goes. Those left behind
have a struggle, but we make it through.