Posts by leahjoy
A Summer Sunday- Part I
Friends, you’ve waited long enough, and it’s time to share the story of how Larry Mosser met Joy O’Neal. An ordinary meet-cute, in an ordinary way, in an ordinary small Kentucky town. But for these two, their families, me, and now all of you, it’s a tale to cherish. I’ve just started writing the…
Read MoreUpdates & New Discoveries!
It’s Sunday evening and the house is quiet. Cozied up on the couch, I’m looking at Larry’s handwriting on another faded envelope, stamped with a war-era ‘Torch of Enlightenment’, and an entreaty to join the Red Cross Roll Call. It’s entirely possible that I am the first person to open and read this letter in…
Read MoreWaiting for April
Life is full of waiting, isn’t it? … And it’s almost ALWAYS hard to be patient. (How much more so for those young & in love!) In March of 1942, Larry & Joy were waiting eagerly until their next opportunity to see each other. Sometime in April Larry would travel from Alabama to Kentucky, and…
Read MoreAs We Walk Into the Sunset
Did anyone ever serenade you? Send you love songs on cassette tape, CD, or playlist? I received a few of those some decades ago, and those memories are so special. Long before the technologies any of my suitors used, Larry was writing to Joy the names of the lovely-sweet songs that made him think of…
Read MoreWinter Blues & Valentines (February 1942- Part III)
[UPDATE: I’ve been asked to use the real names of the letter writers- Larry & Joy, so you’ll see that I’ve made that change.] Well, we’re still several weeks away from St. Valentine’s Day, and stuck in the ides of January. Are you a lover of Winter? Here in Kentucky we’re enjoying our first…
Read MoreSome Things Are Meant To Be (February 1942- Part II)
As you know, I’ve been trying to get in touch with Larry & Joy’s daughter since early December. I’ve had such mixed feelings about going forward with this project if I could not make that connection and receive the family’s blessing. Despite my internet sleuthing, I don’t think my initial messages were reaching anyone, and…
Read MoreFebruary 1942- Part I
February 1942 The state of Kentucky was heavily involved in supporting WWII war efforts, mobilized as so many were by the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Plants and factories in Louisville (and across the state) rapidly adapted to the production of Jeeps, synthetic rubber, coal, steel, TNT, vacuum tubes for radios, and…
Read MoreLove Letters Lost & Found
There’s a great little flea market/ antique store near my home in Kentucky called the Copper Awning. The building has had a few different lives, and once housed a grocery store, but has long since traded fruit & veg for great old furniture, dishes, knickknacks, linens, and décor. Dozens of local vendors fill booths with…
Read MoreThe Meditation of the Stitch
The year has flown by, and this one brought some unexpected challenges. In many ways it’s been an incredible year for me; I joined the Louisville Area Fiber & Textile Artists, had my first experience of having a piece of my work in an art show, and I’ve really started to allow myself to take…
Read Morecre.ate: verb, “to bring into being”
How do you begin to make something? How do you bring something into being that’s never existed before? Where does it start? With an idea? A clear vision of something to be translated from the internal world to the external? Maybe with a song, or a sky, a conversation, or something you read in a…
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