Just a few weeks ago, my husband and I celebrated our third year anniversary. As a gift to him, I made this book. But this isn't just any book I've ever made--this is
Second-Year Law School Letters.
It all started on a dark and stormy night. Oops. Wrong story. It all started last year when I read
Wednesday Letters by Jason F. Wright. My sister loved the book more than I did, but I did love the idea--write weekly letters to your spouse. In the book, the husband would give each letter to her after he had written it. But me, I decided to keep it a surprise. So last year, during the first week of his second year of law school, I wrote a letter to him. And each week after that. The letters became a record of each week--almost a journal entry--of what we had done that week/weekend, new milestones our daughters were reaching, and then an expression of love and appreciation for the little things he had done for me that week. Time passed through Halloween, the birth of our second daughter, Christmas, travels home for the holidays, Valentines day, law school competitions, Mother's Day, and then the summer. I'm a little disappointed to say that I missed two weeks out of the whole year, but I guess that's okay.
So for our anniversary, I compiled the letters into this book and titled it
Second-Year Law School Letters.
The front title page:
The second "title page" had all the dates of the journal entries.
And a few sample pages of the letters. I kept the letters to a half page, which was nice because I didn't feel like I had to spend hours writing a lengthy letter.
And oh how embarrassing to notice typos in my journal entries! Don't look too close!
Ways to use this idea:
*Engaged? Write weekly letters during the engagement of all the preparations, stresses, and excitements.
*Pregnant? Write weekly letters of the anticipations of the labor, becoming a mother, weights and measurements, etc.
*Parenting? Write weekly letters as journal entries. I've started doing this as journals for my girls. I record cute things they do and say, their milestone progress, and anything else I think they'd like to know (and I'd like to remember).
Here is a link to a journal I made for a friend's baby shower with this idea in mind.
I had a lot of fun designing the name plate. April suggested the title, but I chose the fonts and a layout.
I also used a cursive, handwritten font for her signature. I thought it personalized it a bit more.
Out of respect for the family's privacy, I am not posting any pictures of the pages inside the book, but Jenny did a great job of putting it together. It was almost 90 pages (8.5x11) long and even included her own design of their family tree!
It was neat to be able to work on something that someone else had spent hours of time and energy on to make it so special. She provided the cover paper, and the document text, and I provided her with the finished product. Great teamwork. Thanks Jenny!
They were both fun projects, and I almost had just as much fun wrapping them up in birthday tissue paper to send out!
The front title page:
The second "title page" had all the dates of the journal entries.
And a few sample pages of the letters. I kept the letters to a half page, which was nice because I didn't feel like I had to spend hours writing a lengthy letter.
(front covers)
(back covers)
The table of contents:
And I'm still working on the exciting project I haven't posted yet. It got interrupted with a move, but now that we are almost settled, I'll be booking again soon!
It's a journal of 52 Love Letters from mom to baby. There are 52 pages, one for each week of the year, that way the new mom can write a letter each week describing the baby's developmental progress, milestones, idiosyncrasies, and stories to remember.
The inside cover has an envelope to hold the birth story. My birth story for Claire was definitely longer than half a page, so I thought to store it in the envelope in the cover. And the title page says, "Life, for us, would never be the same."
