Keeping Love Letters

[goodwood]

So do you keep love letters from your exes?
I found one from the love of my life in my night table drawer that she had left there. She tucked away love letters for me in places i would find them.
I found other ones i had kept and was so angry after the break up that i threw them away.
But this one for whatever reason i kept. Maybe i will throw it away, i don't know.
Sometimes i find old love letters and read them and laugh to think that i loved that girl at all and happily dispose of them and think 'WHY do i still HAVE that?'.
I suppose its a case by case basis? What do you do?

 

[B_Think_Kink]

I keep everything, I want things to look back when I'm old to remember what my life was all about. Memory loss runs in my family, so I suppose I've started early on keeping things to remember my life by.

 

[earllogjam]

It hurts when you see your love letters you wrote in the trash at your ex's. It's happened to me and you just feel like crawling into the trash yourself.

That said, I have tossed out letters from ex-boyfriends simply because they don't carry any sentimental value once a relationship is over.

 

[nudeyorker]

I have old love letters tied up in bundles wrapped in ribbons in boxes. Something to look at and stroll down memory lane when you are older and nodding by the fire.

 

[MovingForward]

It depends. Since my partner passed away I have tried to make a memory album with any old cards and things I can find. As far as ex's. Just one or two pictures but that is it.

 

[MagicJohnsonFan]

I keep them all - at least for a while. Every once in a while I'll accidentally run across one that I'd forgotten I had and will either smile at it's sweetness and tuck it neatly back where I found it or roll my eyes and throw it out. None of them hold any emotional meaning any more, they're just momentos of a past life well lived.

 

[B_New End]

I burned all the ones from my first ex, and threw everything away she ever gave me away, the morning after I found out she cheated on me.

 

[Principessa]

So do you keep love letters from your exes?

I only had 1 bf that sent me love letters and no, I did not keep them.
I found one from the love of my life in my night table drawer that she had left there. She tucked away love letters for me in places i would find them.
I found other ones i had kept and was so angry after the break up that i threw them away.
But this one for whatever reason i kept. Maybe i will throw it away, i don't know.

Sometimes i find old love letters and read them and laugh to think that i loved that girl at all and happily dispose of them and think 'WHY do i still HAVE that?'.

I suppose its a case by case basis? What do you do?

I would assume it's done on a case by case basis. Frankly with the internet, email, and text messages having been the mainstay of communication for about 15 years now I am astounded that anyone writes or receives love letters anymore.

It hurts when you see your love letters you wrote in the trash at your ex's. It's happened to me and you just feel like crawling into the trash yourself.

I'm confused as to how you would be in the position to see them in the trash. My thinking is love letters get thrown out after a big fight where you breakup. Therefore why are you back at their place?

That said, I have tossed out letters from ex-boyfriends simply because they don't carry any sentimental value once a relationship is over.

Exactly.

I have old love letters tied up in bundles wrapped in ribbons in boxes. Something to look at and stroll down memory lane when you are older and nodding by the fire.

Aww, you sentimental old softy. I knew you had a heart underneath that sophisticated, gruff, NYC exterior.

I burned all the ones from my first ex, and threw everything away she ever gave me away, the morning after I found out she cheated on me.

IMHO, This is appropriate behavior for the circumstance.

 

[Hippie Hollow Girl]

No. I kept them while I was single, but when I got married almost 20 years ago I got rid of them. I remember finding my husband's stash in his apartment before we got married and reading them and right after that he got rid of all of his old love letters......so I followed suit.

 

[B_Think_Kink]

Hehe, I just like the idea of being reminded of better times.

 

[D_Deceptivus Wrongpeter]

I kept mine for a few years, read them one last time long after she was out of my life, and then shredded them. Most of them were just tools to manipulate me.

 

[2322]

I have old love letters tied up in bundles wrapped in ribbons in boxes. Something to look at and stroll down memory lane when you are older and nodding by the fire.

BINGO!

Stuff them in your nursing home bag for the day they wheel you away to Shady Acres. You'll have a far mellower view of them and they will help you relive important parts of your life and, far more importantly, help you understand yourself.

 

[Gl3nn]

I never had one :'(

 

[No_Strings]

I wouldn't intentionally throw away anything of sentimental value.

If I loved someone enough to have a relationship with them, the termination of that relationship wouldn't remove that love, nor would I want it to. I see no point in petty actions over material things and any hurt wouldn't retroactively once special items for me.

 

[killerb]

I've never gotten love letters, but I do have some cards w/ notes in them that I've saved...and some nice old emails & text msgs...:smile:

 

[goodwood]

Thanks for sharing.
njqt's response to those that she replied to is perfect.
The one note i just found i did put back and will look at it
another time when i am looking for something else.

 

[nudeyorker]

BINGO!

Stuff them in your nursing home bag for the day they wheel you away to Shady Acres. You'll have a far mellower view of them and they will help you relive important parts of your life and, far more importantly, help you understand yourself.
Shady Acres? Keep dreaming I will be by the clothing optional pool at ***3 Kalaniuka Circle!

Aww, you sentimental old softy. I knew you had a heart underneath that sophisticated, gruff, NYC exterior.
I don't know why I give the worlds worst impression!

 

[just some guy]

I save the e-mails. I don't get many love letters anymore. I have a ton from my first girlfriend. When we were in high school we'd write each other one or two letters every day. I kept all of them over the course of three years. After our very bitter breakup... I put them along with some other stuff in a box I duct-taped shut and labeled "things to forget." I threw the box into a dark corner of my closet. I didn't want to look at them but I also didn't want to do something rash like burn them or throw them away that I would end up regretting later.

 

[Ethyl]

I keep letters and various mementos because they were or still are a part of my life and I neither deny nor regret loving anyone.

 

[silvertriumph2]

I still have everything from my ex-wife for three reasons...
1) I want to keep them
2) my son may want to have them in the future.
3) my present partner understands their value

I also have everything from my present partner in life of 20+
years.

When a relationship is over it's usually a permanent thing, and
once you have someone NEW and PERMANENT in your life, then
I don't think it proper or nice to keep things around, visible or
otherwise, from the "earlier ones or the in-betweens." So, all
my old letters, photos, and memorabilia such as jewelry, rings,
etc., have all been returned, given away, or destroyed.

But, never, should anyone force or demand that something that
belongs to another be destroyed or thrown out. They can make
a request that it be done so, but they are personal property and
only the owner of can decide to destroy, hide, store, or throw
them out or not.

Anyway, those are my thoughts...