Love Letters from Madagascar

Way back a million years, Jon and I were young and in love and on different continents, pining after each other. I was in Madagascar, and Jon was in Canada, and then he left for a stint to travel through Asia. While the pangs of young love were strong, I'm pretty sure if you were a third party watching on, Jon and I were some kind of pathetic. Story 1: Jon and I used very expensive phone cards to call each other, and mostly Jon calling me from wherever he was in Asia to where I was teaching in Antananarivo. One day, I noticed five or six missed calls, and when I finally got in contact with Jon, Jon was in a state of panic, and told me he was in a motorcycle accident, describing in horrific detail the event of his motorcycle skidding and flying metres across dirt and gravel-covered roads. I immediately began freaking out, and imagining all sorts of dramatic scenarios involving suspect blood transfusions and hospitals out in the bush and helicopters (I watched many episodes of ER in high school, which obviously have given me a very realistic sense of what injury abroad looks like). After some prodding, however, I discovered that Jon's motorcycle accident resulted in a scraped pinky-toe and a lesson learned to always wear shoes, and not flip flops, when on a motorcycle. Luckily for him, he had motorcycle insurance so any damage could at least be covered by the insurance company. If you have been involved in an accident that's a big more serious than just a scraped pinky-toe then you might want to contact someone like a Dallas motorcycle accident lawyer to see if you could get compensation if the accident wasn't your fault. It really was silly the amount of fuss he was making over a few minor cuts! This was the first tell-tale sign that in our life together, Jon would not make the best sick-patient, and we have since had some high-drama sore throats and paper cuts. Story 2: I wrote him love letters from afar. I got a pack of airmail envelopes from the local Shop Rite, and wrote him about my new adventures and new food and attempts to learn the new language and of course, went on and on about tender devotedness and the woes of separation. I will (very kindly) spare you the sordid details. All of this is to remind you that this Valentine's Day, our Letter Writing Club is still on! With all the InCoWriMo flying around, what better month to stop by and write some letters around our table. Whether or not you're separated from your special someone, or, for that matter, whether or not you're in any sort of special relationship, consider pouring your heart out, embracing sincere affection in the form of embarrassingly honest romantic notions on a piece of paper. And even better, send it in the mail - who knows what spies may intercept! Oh, the danger! What fun! As always, our Letter Writing Club is on Sunday afternoon from 2-4 pm, free, and we've got stationery, pens + stamps for you to use.