Writing in the Laundry Room

Trying to kill two birds with one stone, I went to the local laundry mat to get some badly needed clothing washed while getting some incredibly postponed homework done, when a man - about twenty years older than my father and, who I suspect, has a mild mental impairment - asked me to fix his pen. He couldn't get the end of it removed so he could access the ink cartridges. Soon, I found myself not doing my own homework, but rather helping him write a love letter to his girlfriend. He asked me how to spell "lifetime partner," if the second line sounded right, and whether or not I thought the ending appropriate. Because I spend three days each week working in the college writing center, I initally took his requests a little too seriously until I realized that he was lonely and was actually looking for a stranger's approval, in this case mine.

It was all rather odd, but I began to feel a little guilty because I have never written my own girlfriend a love letter; It also occured to me that writing a good love letter took some practice and that this guy obviously had more practice than I did. I suppose that love letters belong in their own genre, and speaking "literarily," it might be good to read a compilation of them. Griffin and Sabine has been a popular book in recent years that fictionally explores the art of writing of love letters. Personally I've avoided reading it because I feared a heavy dose of schmaltz, but maybe I should finally take a look.