Pages

Monday, October 25, 2010

Long Distance "I Love You"s

I came across this sweet idea on MarthaStewartWeddings.com.


Here is the caption (from MSW.com):

"During the World Wars, when letters to their overseas sweethearts were scrutinized by military censors, lovers developed a secret code: They placed the postage stamp upside down. Then, if the letter inside was confiscated and the empty envelope forwarded on, as often happened, the stamp would still carry a message of devotion."

I did a quick Google search to find some more information on this, and so far, there isn't much more than a short entry on the Philatelic Database (say that five times fast), and a site called "Prison Talk" (whoa there, ignoring that link...).   

According to the Philatelic Database, or PDb as I'm going to call it, there was a "language of stamps" but the upside down stamp in the upper right hand corner meant "write no more."  An upside down stamp on the left corner of an envelope meant "I love you."  BUT, since the Postal Service requires that we place the stamp on the right hand corner of our envelopes, I'm going to go ahead and say that an upside down stamp on the right hand corner can also mean "I love you."

What you probably don't know is that I send Bear a letter every week.  I email him more often than I probably should, just to say "hi, I love you and I'm thinking about you."  But to me, nothing comes close to the experience of receiving a letter in the mail. My inner history-nerd is so excited to do this the next time I send him a note. Hopefully he'll get that I mean, "I love you" and not "write no more."

Any other long-distance/military brides love to send snail mail?  

No comments:

Post a Comment