Love Letters
Love letters straight from your heart, keep us so near while apart,
I’m not alone in the night reading the lines of the note you write.
I memorize every line, kissing the name that you sign.
And darling then I read again right from the start
Love letters straight from your heart.
Above verses are part of the favorite song of my late mother. The song is entitled “Love Letters”. How is that song related to this article today?
This song became popular during a different era – when mobile phones, televisions, and telephones were virtually unknown. Talking of telephones, here in Bohol, there was a telephone system before which we called central and it used the Morse code. Long distance calls were made at Pong Boiser’s PLDT located across the present area of the famous “Pasonangka”. But the PLDT building is no longer there.
Moreover, it was only in Tagbilaran where they had a 24-hour power service. In our town, power service was only from 6pm to 6am. We had also our radio sets. And after the Angelus, we were all glued to the radio drama: “Korak, Hari sa Kalasangan” was one of the best radio series that we had.
Why have I thought of the song “Love Letters”?
While anticipating for the New Year, I forced myself to think of beautiful thoughts. And the first positive thought that I grasped, was the thought of my mother including her favorite sogs. Some of these were: “Love Letters”, “Unchained Melody”, “Rose Tatoo”, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, and “Portrait of My Love”, These are theme songs of movie favorites shown on double program schedules at Melrose theater. Those were the days of the cinema scope of Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Then, aside from those thoughts, I have gone back to my piano playing. And my mother’s favorite songs, always came to my mind. We used to have “pyesa” for the notes and the lyrics, but I could not find the piano pieces anymore. I forgot where I have stored them. Dili na pud ko ganahan magdukoduko para mangita. There are many things I want want to do but physically doing these is an ordeal due to my hip injury. Reading the notes is an ordeal. too. Gradually my hard fingers are slowly finding their ways for a recall of the music I used to play.
Fingers of an old woman are no longer as swift as the young adult’s. My fingers are getting stiff from all the varied things mothers do. Phonographs and vinyl records are still there but have become obsolete at the time of the component system. I also had a record player before, But, I gave this to a trusted help when we left Leyte for Bohol.
I will be asking from my Bff Ardy where we could buy record players for I still have my collection of long playing records from the old Readers Digest.
And “Love Letters” again came to my mind. Do young lovers today still use the blue and pink stationery for their love letters? As early as elementary days, we were already taught letter writing and much more so in high school, complete with all the margins and the different parts of a letter. This kind of training gave us an edge over other young girls and boys when we went to college. Remember, that was the trade mark of old Saint Joseph College, an exclusive girls’ school, then.
Ours, then, was the age of romanticism. Hence, the lines of songs meant a lot to us. “And darling then I read again right from the start, love letters straight from your heart.”