Moonlightaholics

Thanks, alle. I know this whole story made you sob - and I'm so grateful you stuck with it (I know sad stories really aren't your read of choice).

allegrita wrote:I'm not a visual person, but I've told you before that I can see Mick writing these letters. Picture him silhouetted against the afternoon light slanting in through the windows, writing to Beth every day, pouring out his soul, counting down the year one envelope at a time. I just want to hug him.

That's so lovely - most of the way through this whole story, that was precisely how I felt.

allegrita wrote:They are like a piece of his soul, folded neatly and served up individually in 365 envelopes. They show her the year from his side.

PNWgal - teary-eyed? Seriously? Wow. High praise indeed. And you know that, like you, I am an absolute sucker for the whole "strong man in pain" theme. A total sucker. No wonder I fell so hard for Mick.

lorig, thanks so much, my faithful reader.

Aw, GA, have a . Mick is so overcome with his own sorrow, and then joy, that he really doesn't think about the potential cost - and I also think he invests Josef with more power than he really has and, on some level, thinks he will have been able to just fix everything and they can all carry on regardless.

GuardianAngel wrote:In that last line you have made me believe that Josef had the right of it - their love was worth any sacrifice.

Then my work is done. Thank you so much for your beautiful comments all the way through this story - I really appreciate them (and you!).

Wow, dsr. What an amazing set of comments - I'm so very touched. Thank you.

darkstarrising wrote:His reminiscing about his father, about being a good husband was utterly beautiful. His fear about what his father would think of him now, heartbreaking.

I've written quite a lot about Mick's father (mostly in Anniversary) because it's a relationship that intrigues me. Even after so long apart, I think that a lot of the man Mick is, his "code", must have come from his family - only something that deep and close could have survived everything that Mick has lived through. And even present-day Mick strikes me as someone who needs his father more than ever.

I love that the thoughts about marriage, Coraline, Beth, rang true. It's such a complex part of Mick and I always love to imagine him having those conversations honestly with Beth.

darkstarrising wrote:But the final letter did me in - Day 364- a self accounting of a man who saw himself a lesser man without the woman that makes him complete, a man who said he wouldn't lose faith, and didn't.

Mick was never short on introspection; the thing I enjoyed most about writing these was that they gave me the chance to have Mick express all the things he could never put into words - a self-accounting indeed. Again, thank you.

janicevictoria, that's very lovely. Thank you.

francis, a roller-coaster; how perfect. And little does Mick know the ultimate price - but for know, he has his pure joy. And that was lovely to write.

coco, yeah it was a bumper crop this time. The letters started out as part of my writing process - if I was going to refer to them, I had to write them. But they became more than that for me - they were a chance to get my own thoughts clear on how Mick was feeling so that it would come out as I hoped in the story itself. Plus, I just loved writing them. They appeal to the romantic in me. It was a pleasure to post them here and I'm delighted you enjoyed them.

Albra, thank you for reading and commenting.

sabazzz, have a hankie, sweetie. I do love to tug on those heartstrings. But where Mick is concerned, he just does that anyway.

And a final thank you to Moonlighter. Without her encouragement I would never have posted these.

Red

These letters are stunning in their range of emotions! Day 364 did me in completely!! The final letter felt so triumphant!! All of the letters were beautifully and poetically written and a sheer joy to read!!!!


mitzie

Thanks, mitzie. I'm so happy you enjoyed them.

Red

Today it's a little too late but tomorrow I am going to treat myself and read all the letters together as others have mentioned.

Thank you for writing them. I may have said it before but I will say it again - to be loved like that is the most wonderful thing for which anyone could wish. Mick's love of Beth in these letters is the stuff of which fairy tales are made.

And in the story was another love - not a romantic one - but one of friendship - Josef sacrificed himself so that Mick and Beth could stay together.

Thank you again for these letters.

I finally finished the love letters, Red. I remember how Mick told Josef he would leave him alone to do what he had to do. Josef didn't believe Mick could do it. And then Mick was so happy when Josef "did it". Ah, but we all know what Josef had to do to make it happen. I tried not to let the knowledge of the future dampen Mick's joy at believing in the happy ending.

And I was doing okay until Day 364. The promises... well, let's just say I'm glad the tissues were handy. That summed up their whole year apart. Beautiful.

Thank you for this wonderful story and the heartfelt letters of Mick's. I don't think ever before or since have I looked forward so much to a story that I knew was going to make me cry. What a love story!

Oh man, Red... gutwrenching!

They'd be gutwrenching no matter what, but I can't decide if knowing how it all comes out makes it all more painful to read... or less so. But Jeez, I so get why Beth would be sitting on the floor bawling her eyes out, if she got a load of these suckers all at one time...

And man, it makes me fall for Mick all over again! What a guy!

MS, thank you - I hope you enjoy them.

MLC,

MickLifeCrisis wrote:Thank you for this wonderful story and the heartfelt letters of Mick's. I don't think ever before or since have I looked forward so much to a story that I knew was going to make me cry. What a love story!

Oh that's so lovely! Thanks so much.

Grace, what a guy indeed.

Red

redwinter101 wrote:This takes place during chapter 10

Day 364


Beth,

I promised I'd be strong - I've been weak
I promised I wouldn't doubt - I've doubted
I promised I wouldn't be afraid - some days I've been consumed by fear
I promised I'd hold you close in my heart - some days I've pushed you away because it hurt too much
I promised I'd fight - there were times I nearly gave up
I promised I wouldn't think you'd be better off without me - I've wondered why you put yourself through this, for me, for us
I promised I'd stand tall - this year without you has brought me to my knees

I promised I'd love you forever - every moment of every day, that's one promise I've managed to keep

Until tomorrow, my love.

Forever.

M

This letter, above all else, is the heart and the soul of our Mick. I think I read this one particular letter about 7 or 8 times before moving on, then came back to it to read it yet again. Red, you are truly amazing.

I got such a lump in my throat (what? How surprising) as Mick's joy over Josef's "answer" lifted his spirits, and of course we sit here, reading his joy, knowing the sacrifice to come...

Everyone has already said anything and everything I would have wanted to say, even things I would have been unable to come up with myself, so all I have left to say is Thank You. These letters touched my heart in the original story of Afterglow, and they have certainly taken on a life of their own here in A Year-Long Love Letter. I just feel so privileged that I was able to go along for the journey and truly humbled that you would thank me for your incredible work. All praise for this goes to you, my friend!

I said it before and I'll say it again: ML RED!

Let me add my to you, Moonlighter. I'm so glad you enjoyed the final set and that they gave a satisfactory conclusion. This story has taken almost a year (no irony intended) and I'm both happy and a little sad it's over. But, as I said at the end of Afterglow, I've told the story I wanted to tell - and these letters turned out to be an integral part of that, that's why I'm so glad they found an audience. I'm touched that you enjoyed the story enough to want to read more, and that the letters added to the whole.



Red