Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop!

Welcome to my stop on the Blog Hop! My card is made with Close To My Heart stamps from several different sets including Vintage USA and Childhood Portrait.

I am offering blog candy for anyone who pledges to send at least 10 cards to Operation Write Home. It is the "Mini-Masterpiece" ATC set from Artistic Outpost. The set is already mounted and pre-cut for you and can be seen HERE. Please leave a comment with your pledge to be entered.

Last year for this Memorial Day blog hop I wrote about my father's experience in World War II and the importance of Mail Call to those serving overseas. Today I want to tell you about what I have seen from mail that arrives from those overseas.

I often write here about my darling Auntie. She is a beautiful and amazing woman who is now 85 according to the calendar, but so young at heart that no one would believe her age. She met her beloved husband as a 16 year old, married him at 21 and lived an incredible life with him until his death 15 years ago. For the first 30 years of their marriage, he was an active-duty naval officer and served in posts around the world.

One of her great treasures are his letters. She has 35 years worth of letters and they are kept, just like one sees in a movie, in a box tied with ribbons. When she is particularly missing him, as she still does every day, she will take out her box, gently untie a ribbon, and read a few letters from long ago.

She was too young to be "involved" with a sailor the first time he went away. He told her he wanted to write to her but that she should date while he was gone. Their love was built through those letters and they married not long after he came home from World War II. Their great love for one another was sustained through his sea duty assignments by more letters.

Today her house is full of reminders of him- pictures, mementos of foreign postings, naval memorabilia, the flag that covered his casket at Arlington. The box of letters is kept private. They are for no eyes but hers. She will tell me that they are full of his love for her, but I have never read them, nor do I want to. Whenever she wishes, she can once again experience the voice of her beloved, telling her how much he loves her. Even as they did 40 or 50 or 60 years ago, these letters sustain her today.

Through Operation Write Home we can assist and encourage today's active duty service men and women to share their thoughts in a tangible form with those waiting for them at home. When a man in Iraq sees a card and thinks "My wife would love that" or an overseas Mom knows "that would make my son smile", we are helping, in a small way, to keep families together during a most difficult time.

I hope you will join with Operation Write Home in this wonderful effort. I know of no better way this Memorial Day weekend to honor those who have already made the ultimate sacrifice than to support those who are now in harm's way in service to us.

Your next stop on the Blog Hop is at Samantha's blog, More Paper Please. If you get "lost" due to any broken links, you can always start at the beginning by going back to the Stars and Stamps blog. You can also visit OWH's home page- this is the place for you to learn more about Operation Write Home and how you can help, even if you are not a card maker. And, if you Facebook, you can join the OWH page at FB!

Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!