Speaking of Love #16 & 17

Time to play catch-up.  First, the quotes...

I have found the paradox that if I love until it hurts, then there is no hurt, but only more love.

~ Mother Teresa

Isn't that a powerful quote?  Wow!  Convicting and inspiring.

Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave.

~ Martin Luther

That one is, too.  Ouch, my toes are getting stepped on!  :)

And now the letters...

4 Nov 96

Hey there, wonderful lady!

Today has been a search for an inexpensive place to stay.  I may have to live in a smaller place first, then move when you come, to a better place.  I can't seem to get a hold of the office in Angelus Oaks.  I have decided though, it is time to leave, and I am hoping to be out by Friday.  If I have to, I will live in Yucaipa or Beaumont for a while.  [Quick note:  after he returned from Israel in the summer of '96, he lived with his parents in Big Bear, CA; but by this point, he was feeling the strain of being a grown man and still living under his parents' roof, so he was considering options for moving out...plus, we were already engaged, and he was looking ahead to our future together.]

I want to thank you for being a listening ear.  I love you, Davene.  My sister has been keeping me from feeling alone in this...all my brothers and sister have been through this.  I know it is all crazy to you...your exposure to the "varieties" of the world has been very little.  Your parents have done well in sheltering you.  I am glad...but life, I suppose, is going to be a constant shock to you.

I am relieved for Thanksgiving [he was coming to visit me in Virginia then]...I am relieved in your faithfulness to stick with me.  You are wonderful, Davene.  I love you.  

Today's been another slow day [in the barbershop] so far (not what I need), but it has given me a chance to look at newspapers and call numbers.  May God direct me correctly.

6 pm.  I did not find a place to stay...all the mountain cabins in Angelus Oaks, Forest Falls, and Mountain Home are $500- and up, except for one studio apartment for $350- but it is barely bigger than your bedroom.  It looks as if I'll end up in Yucaipa...

I called Kim [his sister].  I am going to move to San Diego Friday.  I will commute until Dec. 19, my last day of school and then quit my Yucaipa job and get a better job in San Diego.  By June, I will have our place for us somewhere down there.  It will be the city, but of cities, I like it most and I've lived there before.  Besides...it has great musical arts, higher paying barbershops, and we will be close to Kim and Mike.  I feel relief...she has helped me immensely.  I love you, Davene.   I am in music class right now awaiting my test results.  O boy, do I feel better now that I have a good plan again.  Thank God...  I indeed am encouraged... O how happy I am.

I got an A [on his music test]! I only missed one - only 5 people in the class got an A - no one got all of them right!  Thank You, Jesus!  O Davene, I love you, my interval teacher!!!  

Now we're doing minor scales and a lot of other scales:  harmonic, pure, melodic, pentatonic, blues, whole, chromatic, etc.  A lot of stuff...the test is the night I return from being with you.  I love you, Davene.

Well, I am going to drop this in the mail on the way to Angelus Oaks...remember to write me at my sister's address now!

I love you!

I miss you!

I long for you!

Jeffrey

And another one, written 9 days later...

13 Nov 96

Wednesday

My dearest Happy - 

How are you?  I am forging ahead, feeling a little better thanks to your sacrificial phone calls to the school pay phones last night.  You truly are incredible, Davene - and I love you with all my heart.  I know this is a difficult two weeks for both of us.  I am very anxious to see you and be with you....

I love you, Davene, and your companionship builds me up - you make my confidence rise and my joy increase.  I really do love you.  I long to support you more - to be at your March recital - O Davene, it is hard to be without you.  I want to experience life with you, not apart.  I want to share the fun times with you and the not so fun times.  You are the "lady of my dreams"; I love you, Happy.

...

You just cheered me up with a brief phone call to the shop!  Thank you, my princess!  I love you so much.  You play all the right keys of my heart.

Davene, there is no one like you - I am so grateful that God brought us together in Israel!  I love you!  Yes, I do.

Yaquir