Every example here follows the same shape: one line about why, one moment, one thing noticed, one thing wanted, a sign-off. Borrow the shape. Do not borrow the sentences; she can tell. The method is in how to write a love letter.
1. The short one (three sentences)
Em,
No reason. I was at the hardware store and a guy had his daughter on his shoulders picking out paint and I thought about you. That's all.
J
2. The first love letter you have ever written
Taylor,
I've never written one of these, so bear with me.
The thing I keep coming back to is the night your car died outside the taco place and you said "well, now we have time," and we sat on the curb for an hour. I remember thinking: this is it. This is the whole thing, right here.
You're better at being a person than anyone I know. You notice people. You noticed me.
I'd like a lot more curbs with you.
Ryan
3. For your wife, after a hard month
Rachel,
This month was a lot. I got quiet and you carried most of it. The kids, your mom, the car. You did it without a word and I noticed every day even if I didn't say it.
I'm not writing to fix anything. I just wanted it on paper that I see you.
Saturday I've got the kids. Sleep in. All the way in.
Ben
4. Long distance
Jess,
It rained here Tuesday, the sideways kind, and I stood under the awning at the shop thinking about how you'd have run straight through it.
On the call Sunday you said "it's fine" about your mom and it wasn't fine. You don't have to tell me on the phone. You can tell me here.
Forty-one days. I'm taking the Friday off. The taco place and then nothing, all weekend.
What's the one thing you miss that you haven't told me yet?
Danny
5. Anniversary
Sarah,
Three years. The one I keep thinking about is the night the power went out in February and you lit every candle we own and made it feel like we'd planned it. You make bad luck feel like a date.
Thank you for not giving up on the garden, or on my cooking, or on me when I'm being a wall.
Next year: the coast road. Just us. I already looked at dates.
Yours, still and all the way,
Luke
6. After a fight (not an apology, the day after one)
Kay,
We already talked, so this isn't that. I just want it down somewhere that I'd rather fight with you than be easy with anyone else.
You were right about the thing with my brother. I'm calling him Sunday.
Pancakes tomorrow. I'm making them. Don't get up.
M
7. For a girlfriend who thinks love letters are cheesy
Nat,
I know. A letter. Roll your eyes and then keep reading.
You narrate the dog. You do voices for him. You don't know you do it and I'm never telling you in person because you'd stop.
That's it. That's the letter. You can throw it away now.
(You won't.)
Owen
8. From a husband of twenty years
Linda,
Twenty years and I've never written you a letter, which is a crime, so here.
I think about the apartment on Hickory with the window that wouldn't shut, and you in two sweaters at the table doing the bills, and me thinking: I'm going to spend my whole life trying to be worth this.
Still trying. You still make it easy to want to.
Coffee on the porch tomorrow. I'll bring it out.
Dave
9. Just because, longer
Mia,
Nothing happened. That's why I'm writing.
I drove past the school on Elm and remembered you telling me about the teacher who let you eat lunch in her room when you were new. I think about that more than you'd guess. It explains you. You're the lunch-in-the-classroom person now, for everybody.
Thank you for being that for me.
I want the next fifty Tuesdays. All of them.
Cal
Put yours on paper
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