Precious

I went into an antique store on one of my trips to Hanalei one day. There was a box of old postcards. There were cards from as far back as the early, early 1900s through the 1950s. Some were blank, and some were addressed to beloved family members or lovers.

I gently flipped through them, sometimes reading the penciled notes.

They were shuffled and in disorder. But out of the hundreds that were in the box, I seemed to always stop and read a postcard from the same man to his wife in New York. (I wish I could remember his name...)

They were such attractive photographs capturing the vintage Hawaiiana that must have surrounded him in the 1940s. (My best guess is that this man was a soldier stationed here?)
There was a postcard of King Kamehameha on Lei Day, one of workers with bananas, and cards of waterfalls, mountains, and the beaches.

On every single one of the dozen of postcards he wrote, solely, "I Love You Precious."

These notes extended from 1942 to 1943, and who knows how many more this man had sent out, or his wife may have received.

I almost bought one or two, just for the sake of having a piece of such tender history, but I didn't.
They weren't meant for me.