When my husband and I were dating we constantly passed notes and love letters back and forth. Sometimes these were just brief scribblings, sometimes lengthy messages. They might ramble on about our feelings for each other, or they might just talk about different events happening in our lives at the time that we wanted to keep each other informed of. The one theme they all had in common? Love. Today I keep those old notes locked away in a chest, and on special occasions I still enjoy taking them out and reading them over. Each one holds some sort of personal memory of that time in my life—thoughts and occasions I don’t want to forget.

I think this demonstrates the importance of saving mementos from the early days of your relationship. Occasionally stirring all those old memories to life again has the affect of keeping your relationship feeling young and romantic. Today there are so many more modern methods of keeping up communication, such as email or text messaging. But there is something particularly special about a personal note that you can hold in your hand and tuck away to keep forever.

I remember that for a short time while I was away from my (then) boyfriend on a trip with my family, we began a practice of writing each other letters daily, so that we could each follow the events the other had gone through while we were apart. It was something like a daily diary for me; I carried a little notebook around, and wrote messages in it throughout the day, whenever a thought struck me. The purpose of this writing might seem to be defeated a little, because we didn’t actually turn our notes in to each other until I’d returned home and we were already back together again. It was a good experience for both of us though, to read how much we had missed one another while we were apart.

This is why I feel people should never dismiss the old fashioned custom of the love letter—not just because the letters themselves make good keepsakes, but also because there’s just something very romantic in the whole idea. These notes don’t have to be poetry (although poems are nice!) or anything that anyone else would find particularly beautiful. It should just be something personal that has a meaning for the two of you.

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