Love In 300 Words

Donna's Book Pub, a blog I follow, posted about the opportunity to write and submit a senior love story . At 300 words it is an excellent writing exercise. Short stories require tight, concise and precise writing. Following is my parent’s story, which I've submitted. If you try this exercise come back and leave your link in the comments, I’d love to read your love story.

It was written in her 8th grade annual, for anyone to see, "I'm coming back to marry you." He was a 17 year old farm boy who liked to skate with trouble; he was on his way to the Marines. Her dad was the superintendent of schools, her mother a school teacher and they could see trouble coming.


In the 1950's the Portage roller skating rink was a party beacon for teenagers in a 50 mile radius. He skated tricky, fast, wild and slow with all the girls, even her sister. She was off limits and sister was the sentinel posted to say so.


He wrote her while in basic, declaring his love and intent to make her his own. In the spring, three years later, he knocked on the Edgewater Street door. She pushed aside her steady and her parent’s objections and married him in the fall. Aunt didn't waste time or money monogramming the towels; it wouldn't last.


High school dropouts they both returned to finish college; Bill going on to teach at a Junior College and Jane to become a Funeral Director. With the youngest child graduated, they sold their home and followed a dream to travel the highways and bi-ways of this great country. They spent twenty years living in the close quarters of a semi-truck as team drivers.


November, 2010 they celebrated their 53rd wedding anniversary. Jane and Bill raised four daughters and enjoy four son-in-laws and seven grandchildren. They established their retirement home on the land that Bill grew up on, outside the town where Jane lived. They are active in the VFW, Historical Society, Friends of the Library and the First Congregational Church.


Love found a way through trouble, objections, and the test of time. Aunt, you should have monogrammed the towels.