Love letters from 100 people

With flowers and candy, balloons and rosé, romantic dinners and candlelight and cards, Valentine’s Day has been celebrated since the year 496. It wasn’t always such an elaborate affair. As legend has it, Emperor Claudius II banned marriage, thinking married men made bad soldiers. Saint Valentine, a Roman priest, betrayed the law and began marrying couples in secret.

Claudius found out, and Valentine was jailed and sentenced to die. There, he and the jailer’s daughter fell madly in love. Before his death on February 14, Valentine sent a love letter to the jailer’s daughter. “From your Valentine,” he signed.

So in the spirit of Saint Valentine, 100 anonymous people have contributed declarations of fondness and affection to be combined into a single love letter. This list includes several archived letters from royalty, a president, movie stars, musicians and writers. However, the vast majority is made up of the extraordinary people you may run across serving your food, teaching a class or sitting across from you at the coffee shop.

So to the hopeless romantics and the amorous idealists, Happy Valentine’s Day.

My dearest love,

You’ve got a way with words and a way with me as well. I’m not great with words, but I promise to try a million times harder, I promise. Today’s the day I tell you how proud I am of you.

I look back to the early days of our acquaintance and friendship and to the days of love and innocence when the butterflies in my stomach told me you were the one. Those days flew by so quickly. I never knew I’d connect with you in such a short time. I want to be just where you are and be just what you want me to be. The impact you’ve left on me is indescribable. You’ve got to try to feel how much I do — how inanimate I am when you’re gone.
When you aren’t there, I’m no place.

You’re the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last before I go to bed. I try to sleep but I lie awake smiling about the adventures we had and the adventures that are yet to come. Here on Earth and everywhere, you were the best anyone could have asked for. I thank God every day for blessing me with an angel. You’re perfect — my best friend, my soulmate, the whipped cream in my hot chocolate — the pillar of my life. You are my rock, and I promise to love you forever!

When I first met you, I was suddenly ready to do all the things I said I’d never do. We spent a morning in a coffee shop with typewriters, so alike, and I knew then that together we could achieve anything. We went together like a pen and paper. I always want to make sure you’re safe and cared for. It’s incredible, really. We can go months without talking and still always pick up right where we left off.

You always got my back, and out of the depths of my happy heart, I know the answer — nothing so fine ever happened as falling in love. Can you explain why when your red truck comes rolling down the road, my heart jumps? It’s because you are in my life. I remind myself how grateful that you are not just in my life, but the most important part. Never take it for granted; love is special.

Never imagine your hope approximates what you are to me because you make me feel comfortable enough to be myself. You give me space to be fully me in all my flaws, quirks, big personality and all. Thank you for always being the person to make me laugh even when I’m at my worst. You make it easier to live life. Seeing you after a long day of work makes me smile through and through.

On a day-to-day basis, in the middle of all the things one has to do, explicitly saying I love you can be overlooked. Thanks for putting up with me. I will try every day to tell you and express how much you mean to me. I’ll choose your happiness over mine because you deserve to be the happiest and I promise I’ll try very hard to make that happen. I would do anything for you. It’s such an honor to spend my time with you. I always know home. I wish I could talk to you more and I want you to know I’m listening to you.

I’m thankful for spending another day with you, grateful for the times you’ve been there for me. You’ve taught me so much. I hope your dreams and aspirations come true. Thank you for being my role model, my support and my little bit of extra laughter. I love the amazing, brilliant, awesome, one-of-a-kind, exceeding-their-best, strangely endearing, forever-grateful-for-everything, friendly bloke you are. You inspire me to set goals for myself that seem unattainable because of self-doubt. You are always rooting for me on the sidelines. When I fall, you tend to be the one who catches me. You’ve watched me grow, struggle, achieve and fail. You’ve shaped the me I am today. You’ve supported me through all my decisions, and I know I couldn’t have had the opportunities I’ve had without that. Love is the result of experience and the product of emotions.

We share a love for life with respect to death. We are in this until the end, and you were right. Life is a flaming pile of garbage, but at least we are in this pile of garbage together. You’re the only person who actually gets me and deals with my crap and shit. You annoy me less than everyone else, and that’s a pretty good sign. I think about you in my future and it makes me happy. You are the most hardworking person I know. You love me even when I disappoint you or do something dumb.

I love you, but you’re an idiot, and I wish I could spend more time with you, but both my life and I are a mess right now and I don’t wanna drag you down with my problems and I. You’ve loved me no matter what, you’ve accepted all my flaws — my jealousy, my pride, my anger at you, at times. Sometimes I am so harsh with you. Sometimes I insult you in ways I would never do to somebody else, but I wouldn’t have anyone to turn to without you.

I have told you this, again and again, so many times. I love the strength you show by facing each day no matter how you feel. I wish you could see yourself in my eyes and I wish I could give you the world. I love it when we do normal things like smell candles and look at plants. I love it when you do the unicorn dance. I love it when your hair is in a knot and blown from the wind. I love when your face turns red because I compliment you. I adore when you get so excited about something I don’t know about because your eyes light up and I get to learn a new side of you.

If you were lost, I would cross the world to find you. If you were mad, I’d patiently let the fire die. If you were sad, I’d bring boxes of chocolates and a blanket to dry your tears. I love it when you get geeked about random things and become the weirdest human I know. I am so geeked that you exist and that you’re mine.

I care about different people in different ways. This world is made up of people, and if we can’t love people, what can we love? Wealth? Beauty? Material items? They don’t provide what we need: solely love. Love is like looking through a window. It’s so real and obvious, yet it is magical. I love my family. Without them, I wouldn’t be in the position I am today. They gave me this life I am living. They raised me — encouraging, disciplining, motivating, and correcting. Their willingness to be there and listen to my problems; even the smallest things are very helpful — being able to vent to them and realize there is no judgment. They are my favorite teacher and my best mentor. They are my first ever love. I want you to be my last.

Behave yourself. I love you.

Ever thine.
Ever mine.
Ever ours.

Your Valentine

Editor’s Note: Thank you so much to all the contributors to this article. I received an outpouring of support for this project online, in person and found such joy in reading each letter. I was heartbroken I had to shorten so many of them. Many were addressed to romantic partners or secret love interests, but most to family. Over half of the letters received when prompted by asking to write a letter to the person who means the most to them, chose to address their mom.