Knowing my fondness for such things, one of my dealers (vinyl not drug) found this for me inside a copy of The Sea of Love by The Adventures.

Diane is excited about her new relationship with Andy. She’s bought him an LP of music she likes and which expresses how she feels. She’s included a card and a postcard with kittens on. Or perhaps the postcard came after, and Andy kept it together with the other love tokens.

I just wanted to tell you that you have changed my whole life in the last couple of weeks… The feelings I have for you, I’ve waited for all my life… I’ve fallen head over heels in love with you and it feels brilliant… I hope you feel the same.

I can’t put an exact date on this; Diane didn’t write it on. The LP is from 1988, but there is a printed date on the postcard 1992.

I like to think Andy was as cock-a-hoop as Diane. They played Drowning in the Sea of Love for the first dance at their wedding. They’ve just celebrated their thirtieth anniversary, and they continue to live happily ever after.

***

I expect many of us have put our hearts on our sleeves in letters to people who may or may not have remained part of our lives. Did we trust that other person not to let our heartfelt feelings fall into the wrong hands? Did we ever think that our naively sincere words would end up on Oxfam’s bookshelves or in crates of second-hand vinyl?

But once that love letter is sent, there’s a chance that a nosey woman might find it and imagine all kinds of things that never happened just for a blog post.

I love finding things in second-hand books and records. Have you ever found any interesting stories in second-hand places? I’d love to hear about them.