Sealed With a Kiss

In the world I grew up in, everything was handwritten or typed on a typewriter. I took a typing class in high school and was the fastest typist in my class, 85 words per minute. But regular people wouldn’t have a typewriter at home, so we wrote out notes, stories, homework, shopping lists, checks for bills and letters by hand.

I was never very interested in letters that came in the mail until I was about 15 years old. The church that I attended would send high school students to a church camp in Southern Indiana. This camp was a week long in the summer, and all the high school aged young people in all of southern Indiana that attended the same denomination as my church would gather at this camp. The kids would stay in dormitories, girls in one set of dormitories and boys in another set of dormitories. There were a lot of activities and games, three hearty meals a day in a big cafeteria, and church at least twice a day. We would attend Bible classes during the day, too. But in the evenings, the youth could wander around, visit and laugh, buy treats from the snack bar, and sometimes sneak off for a couple of moments alone in the darkness. During the evenings, everyone was busy trying to find a boyfriend or a girlfriend from among the many exciting new boys and girls from different places.

One of my best friends had a boyfriend from the summer before that came back to camp. And her boyfriend had brought his best friend with him. I immediately had a crush on this friend. His name was Henry and he lived in Shelbyville. He was very tall, had wavy blonde hair, dark blue eyes and crooked teeth. He was a sweet boy. And before the week was over, he took me under a tree and kissed me in the darkness. It was very innocent, but very exciting. When camp was done, we all went our different ways. But Henry and I promised we would write to each other.

There was a song that had been popular in 1972, a year or so earlier, by Bobbie Vinton called “Sealed With a Kiss.” The lyrics were perfect for star-crossed lovers separated for the summer.

Here’s the song, if you don’t know it:

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=gv4Ofrc_G04&si=poGXEtPnxTJ_m59m

So I wrote a letter to Henry, sealed it in an envelope, put on my cherry lip gloss and planted a pink kiss print right on the seal. I posted it and anxiously waited for his reply.

After what seemed like forever, I finally received a letter from Henry. I don’t remember what it said, just that it was a very friendly letter, that it didn’t reveal much about his life, and that he had spidery handwriting. But, he signed the letter “Love, Henry” so I was thrilled. We promised that we would both go to camp the following summer and see each other again. Henry only wrote me twice, and not at all once school began again in the fall. I did go to camp the next year, but Henry did not come and I never saw him again. But I can still remember how my heart raced when I received his letters, with his signature at the bottom, the word “love” by his name.

Writing Prompts