The Musings of a Simple Country Man
By Hobie Morris
Dust covered the cardboard shoebox. A faded pale green hair ribbon tied around it. It lay forgotten in a secluded corner of the cluttered attic. Someone wrote “Letters” on its cover. Several similarly penciled initials were no longer readable.
The house’s new owner cleaned out the attic. The shoebox along with the accumulation of previous owners was hauled out of the house and heaped in piles alongside the road.
The trash men were behind schedule when they hurriedly began tossing the discarded items into the truck. In their haste the shoebox was overlooked and left behind. Somehow it was seen by a neighbor. The finder knew of my interest in anything old. A few days later I held the untied box. The ribbon in a knot slid off the end. I slowly removed the top.
Crammed in it was an assortment of cards, letters and even a few brittle newspaper articles. They appeared very old. I could soon see they were all hand written. Apparently exchanged between a wife and her husband. Interestingly enough written not during war time or even some other period of lengthy separation. I continued to carefully read them.
The couple were exchanging their thoughts on paper on many meaningful occasions such as birthdays, holidays and especially on their wedding anniversary. This exchange spanning over five decades.
This simple country man found these exchanges deeply moving in their simple and heartfelt eloquence. In total they encompassed an amazingly loving relationship that everybody could envy. Beautiful expressions of love that I felt should somehow be shared with every couple embarking on their married life’s journey together.
When I read the last of the letters I was somehow disappointed. I wanted to read more about their amazing lives together. All I could think of was this unknown couple had left an incredibly touching and beautiful testimony to the vital importance of marriage. Their love for each other continued to grow and blossom into new flowers as their years together sped by.
They were open and comfortable exchanging their thoughts about each other. Not always an easy thing to do especially for the man. But he did well despite occasionally hard to read handwriting and spelling errors. At a time when men were supposed to be strong and silent this unknown husband was apparently not afraid to bare his inner thoughts to the love of his life.
Reading this exchange of deep felt love between this man and woman subtly encouraged this simple country man to try to be a far better husband than he knows he unfortunately has proven to be. With the institution of marriage under attack, divorce rampant and love on the rocks, it’s uplifting to share by reading these exchanges the incredible joys that a loving marriage can bestow on two people.
Together in clear and undisguised expressions they shared an extremely powerful physical attraction for each other. This, combined with many common interests, was all strongly tied together by vitally held and daily practiced spiritual beliefs. They were not only passionate lovers of live and each other but were each other’s very best friends. Their marriage was unquestionably extremely unique and envied by many others they encountered along life’s journey. They shared this love with apparently a broad swath of humanity in many different ways.
Knowing this from people who wrote them, I’m sure this couple wouldn’t mind if I selected two of their many letters to each other. What follows is an exchange on their 47th wedding anniversary.
Another “Honey moon” day with my one and only LOVE! A honeymoon for 47 years! It can’t getter than that!—-Y9u make everybody you touch so much better & sparkling for the experience. You are so extremely rare and so prized for your wonderfully exciting personality and zest for life. You love it all from spotted fawns to beautiful flowers, kitty cats and best (worst???) of all ME! What a rare and incredibly exciting experience to be your friend, husband and admirer! BRAVO!
Now his wife:
We’ve filled in a great number of pages in our “marriage book.” They make a very happy chronicle of two tightly united, loving people. What more can anyone want than what we have together! I know we have many, many more wonderful experiences ahead in the years to come, and I look forward to the happiness they are bound to contain.
Thanks for all you do on a daily basis to enrich our lives. You make our “oasis” here so beautiful and enliven every day with your rich presence and generous love. You are in a word wonderful. I’m so glad we’re traveling life’s journey together.
This simple country man feels so extremely fortunate and blessed that his friend gave him the dusty shoebox. Its contents opened his eyes to two remarkable people and their amazing love for each other. They established an unbelievably high bar of marriage excellence. A bar most of us can only dream about. I’m sure this simple country man will try much harder in the future after reading this unknown couple’s exchanges. Maybe others will too.
Hobie Morris is a Brookfield resident and simple country man.