from ...hope you know who...

on a recent trip to an antique shop with my son, i found this pretty postcard.  it was in a huge bucket full of hundreds of postcards.  I sifted through for awhile and this one caught my eye.  i fell in love with the faded red velvet rose.

i flipped it over quickly to see if it had writing.  yup.  i love old handwriting.  so beautiful and a work of art in itself.  i didn't really read it until i got home and then i was pleasantly surprised.  it's a love note!  to Miss Emma Fry from "hope you know who".  very mysterious.  apparently he "caught a shine" of Miss Emma at the Mohlers love feast, but did not get a chance to speak with her, so he is inviting her to the love feast at Ephrate and would like to see her home.  it is signed, "from one that would like to be your friend, i hope you know from who.  o.o.d."

i have a cigar box full of lucky finds like this.  i usually just look for nice writing, but i don't always take the time to read it in the store.  i buy these things with the intention of using them in my work - in a book or a collage.  but often, when i get it home and read it, there is a nice story.  then i'm hooked and i can't bear to part with it.  so i put it in the cigar box.  i sift through the box occasionally and read them.  and try to imagine their stories.  and i wonder - how did their story end?    

and even though i'll never know, i find myself hoping that Mr. Mysterious got his girl.