Did you know September 26th is Love Note Day? In preparation for this lovely event, over the next week we are going to be featuring some of our favorite love letters, and love letter projects...because love letters are awesome!
If you share our enthusiasm, we hope you'll participate in our Last Love Letter Project—most details below. Help us spread the love, and write a love letter today!
I have been a huge fan of the More Love Letters project for a while now.
The First Love Letter
Hannah Brencher started writing love letters to strangers in October 2010. She was at Grand Central and saw a woman getting on her train who looked lonely. She started to write a letter to her, and was so engrossed in writing that she didn't see the woman get off the train. So, she wrote, "If you find this letter, then it's for you." She folded it up, but it on her back, and quickly rushed off of the train at her stop. "You have to be stealthy," Hannah says in the video below, with a grin.
That was the very first letter she left.
She's written hundreds of letters since, and the project has caught the attention and hearts of thousands. The More Love Letters community, which is now over 20,000 people strong in all 50 states and over 50 countries, write and leave love letters all over their communities and mail handwritten letters to strangers in need.
There's something about Hannah. She just radiates a positivity and selflessness that is infectious. It's clear, from the spirit of her project and the size of her heart, that so much love goes into every single one of the letters she writes.
Her poetic vulnerability is what makes her letters feel like word truffles. They are honest, heartfelt, and cut right to the core of what all of us humans have in common: heartache, joy, a beating heart, and the desire to be loved by and connected to others.
Her letters are better than the best kind of horoscope. They leave you with that feeling: How did you know what I was going through? How did you know how much I needed this?
Letters to a Stranger
If this project is compelling to you, get involved today! You can find more details here on how to get formally involved.
If I've learned any one thing from Hannah and the More Love Letters project, it's this:
We experience far more love when we go out and give it to people joyfully and willingly than we ever do by sitting back and waiting to receive it. You can't write a love letter to someone without feeling pure, honest love emanate out of yourself.
I'm not sure there's a better feeling in the world than that.
A Love Letter for You
I'll end this blog post with a love letter for you, dear reader. It's the one Hannah recites in the video above, and the words are breathtaking. These are for you:
To whoever finds this letter:
You and I have never met. We may never have the chance to sit and know the bones of one another over a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine. Regardless, that doesn't stop me from wanting the very best this life has to offer for you. You deserve that. Don't you know it's true? You deserve so much more than the little lies we learn to tell ourselves about being unworthy, and unlovable, and not deserving of the world's time. It's not true—not an ounce of it.
You?
Well, you deserve stories that burst at the seams with beauty and resolve. You deserve days of rest and laughter, stuck in the grooves of days spent with people who take you as you are, always. Don't ever forget it. The world will try to convince you of otherwise, and I just pray you know the truth. You are a marvel—you, and all the parts of you.
Our Last Love Letter Project
Life is short.
We're inspired by people like Hannah, Danny, and Mara. So, we're starting our own letter-related project, and we hope you'll all be part of it.
This is the question we're asking the entire world:
If you could write one last letter to the person you love the most, what would you say?
...and why haven't you sent it yet?
Our message is simple: Send it now. Don't wait another day.
If you love someone, let them know... and don't forget to take part in Love Letter Day. When you're done, send us a picture of your handwritten love letter. We'll be featuring them on our site as they come in.