Project Valentine 2012, Day 1: Love Letter

2/02/2012

First things first: I posted yesterday's blog entry and almost immediately received a pile of messages from friends who were amazed to learn that Courtney is pregnant!  This is my fault.  It's such a part of our lives right now that I sometimes think I must surely be talking and writing about it far more than I actually am.

So here's what's happening... Courtney is almost twelve weeks pregnant with twins right now.  For several years, going back to before Jack was born, she's felt led to become a surrogate, and it's a path that we've been on for a while now.  I've mentioned it on here a couple of times, both directly and indirectly.  I guess that there are a few reasons I've been a little quiet about it overall, though.  First, I've wanted to be respectful of her privacy and of the couple she's carrying for.  Second, just like when it's your own pregnancy, we've been holding off on making an announcement until we felt like it was safe to do so.  The couple she's carrying for is a really fantastic couple, and they're very excited.

Now you can't say that I didn't tell you!

I thought that a good way to kick off two weeks of romantic gestures would be with a good old fashioned love letter.  Like a lot of things in relationships, this is something I used to be much better about back when we were dating, but have sort of fallen out of the habit of doing.  I don't think that a day passes when I don't tell Courtney that I love her, but I wanted to give her something she could hold onto, you know?

I sat down once the kids were in bed, and got to work.  It was harder than I thought it would be, because once I started, I had to self-edit a lot.  I thought of posting the finished letter here, but ultimately decided that it really should just be for her eyes.  I tried to follow a piece of advice I'd seen, though, when I was writing: a love letter should express appreciation of your past, happiness with your present, and hope for your future.  That's what I tried to go for in this letter.

She wasn't working last night, and after a while she looked over and asked, "What are you working on so intently over there?"
"I'll show you in a minute."

I finished writing just as she went to change into pajamas, and she called to me from our room to ask if I'd pour her a glass of milk.  I did, and put the note down beside it.  I didn't want to watch over her shoulder as she read, so I stayed in the next room, but I could tell that she was reading it, because I could hear her starting to sniffle.  She came into the room smiling from ear to ear, and thanked me for her letter.

I'm going to rate Day 1 as a success.

3 comments:

Agoodmanmedina said...

make me feel better, or make me tear up. .. . but it did make me smile. :)
and then we all know what happened next:
brown chicken brown cow!

Paula Moore said...

Great idea Danny.  I love it when Nathan takes the time to put it in writing - I think there's something even more special about it in these days of e-mail, internet and social media.  This project and the Advent one have been my favorite so far, but I am a bit of a softie:)

Jaylen Watkins said...

Thanks for the love letter for valentines day.

http://www.loveletters.co.in

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