She quietly approached the table as I was wrapping up a purchase for someone else. After only a few minutes of browsing I knew she had found something special. With the card held close to her body, she assumed the role of protector to its delicate paper and the words on its face. She spent a few moments in thought before she spoke.
“Can you add something to a card?” she asked hesitantly.
Of course, I said, I would be happy to customize it for her. She had chosen one of my favorites, a portrait-oriented card featuring a black and white photo of two children, each on their own seesaw. As she started to speak the words that she wanted me to type on the card, I handed her a notepad to write it down. I certainly didn’t want to chance making a mistake on this woman’s perfect Valentine.
When I was originally asked to participate as a vendor in a Valentine themed paper arts fair, I didn’t feel qualified. One of the organizers is a friend who had seen me selling handmade jewelry at a Christmas boutique. He said I could do the same at the Love Letters fair, but it didn’t seem like the right fit to me. I asked if I could sell custom typed bookmarks instead. I very much wanted to participate because words, books, and tangible type are pretty much my love language. The bookmarks seemed the right choice.
A couple of weeks before the event my friend asked if I’d be selling anything else, as he wanted to appropriately represent each vendor in his promotion. I said that I might whip up some sort of notecards or stationery using my typewriter and found paper scraps, but that idea lacked inspiration until a few days later when I was motivated to visit a local antique fair. Said inspiration was found inside a small plastic box of vintage photos on a table with various other collectible items.
What followed was two weeks of me sitting at my typewriter after work pairing greeting card worthy captions with photos of complete strangers from the past to adequately capture the feelings of complete strangers in the now. I wasn’t sure if this idea would resonate with others, but I could barely contain my joy.
My doubts were erased when the woman standing across the table from me at the fair finished writing her sentiments and handed the notepad back to me, along with the card she had selected. To the photo of the two children at play on the seesaw with my caption, “through the ups and downs,” she had added, “and all arounds, you are the one I will always want to play with. I love you honey.” I was filled to overflowing in that moment and throughout the rest of the day as many other strangers invited me into their stories, allowing me to partner with them in powerfully expressing their love.
I’m overwhelmed at the way God creates something from nothing. How such simple things as an old photo and a scrap of paper can be used to represent the not-so-simple thing that is love. My Saturday at the Love Letters fair reminded me that God is in the love business, creating beauty, seeing the things we can’t, connecting in a meaningful way the things that we find impossible to bring together.
Carrie Joy(ful) 