Love Letter

Our first writing assignment for class this semester was a love letter.  We had to write a love letter to some THING.  Not a person, but a thing.  Well, that proved to be more difficult that it sounds.  How do you write to something that can't talk back?  We wrote it, had a few classmates critique it, rewrite it, critique it again, and then the final draft.  I am attaching the final draft.  Even though it was difficult to write, it was fun.  I enjoyed reading other letters too.  There were odes to Chocolate, an old pick up, vintage polyester neck ties, the White Mountains, the family dog and Italy.  I am excited about this class.  I am hoping that the grammar rules that have been stuck in the corners of my mind collecting dust, will be freed and I will become a better writer.

 Dear Music,

I have loved you since I was born.  My mom would put you on the record player or the radio to soothe me when I was crying.  It didn’t matter what tune you were, you would always bring me peace.  My grandpa would sit down at his polished black upright piano and play out your melodies for hours. I loved to sit on the piano bench with him while he played you.  Watching his calloused hands move up and down the piano keys, your melodies brought me such joy.

I don’t know how to read you, but I have been humming your notes since before I could talk.  After I learned to talk I started singing your tunes and I haven’t stopped since.  You take over my mind and body and it doesn’t matter where I am, I will just start singing and sometimes I don’t even realize I’m doing it.  In high school I sang many of your songs in choir and I sang several solos and duets in school and in church.  I tried so hard to learn how to play you on the piano and violin, but to no avail.  I couldn’t grasp reading the bars on paper and interpreting your notes on the instrument.  That hasn’t stopped me from singing though because I can hear you in my mind.

Your melodies are always in my mind and sometimes you encourage me to make up my own.  There are times when the flow of your notes are so powerful and beautiful, that you move me to tears.  You move something deep inside me and touch my very soul.  You can change my mood or stir up a lost and forgotten memory.  Sometimes you make my body move and I just have to dance.

Thank you for sharing your beauty with me and bringing endless hours of joy into my life.  You will be in my heart, body and soul forever.

                                                                                    Love,