Letterboxing with Mark & Sue: A SoCal Letterboxing Love Story!

Thanks to Don from CA who emailed me this story about Geisha Girl and her Valentine's Day Story that she posted on the SoCal talk list:

Hi All!!

Allow me to tell you about my love for letterboxing… or in this case, letterboxing for my love (this sounds so cryptic, but it will all become very clear to you by the end of this story.)

Last Friday, 2/11, I got a message through the LbNA website from a new letterboxer named "StevieFranklin2005" in regards to my Wooly's LB. The message was as follows:

"If I find your Wooly Letterbox on Saturday (2/12/2005), I will place a hitchhiker stamp in it! I hope I understand your clues. PLEASE look for my stamp on Sunday; I am quite proud of it."

I haven't been doing this LB'ing thing for very long, but the email did seem to be a little outside of conventional LB'ing protocol. I've always viewed HH's as little surprises, and here this guy was, declaring to me that upon the discovery of one of my boxes, he was going to triumphantly plant a HH there to show his conquest. I was a little amused by the fact that this person was so enthusiastic about planting a HH, he absolutely HAD to tell me about it and ruin the surprise. I attributed this behavior to the possibility that he was so new at this that he didn't know any better.

Anyhow, I emailed him back and told him that I was sure it looked very nice and that I looked forward to seeing it.

I told my boyfriend about it that night, and we both chuckled. My boyfriend is not as interested in LB'ing as I am. He doesn't care much for carving stamps and hiding them, but he does enjoy finding the stamps with me, as well as the places it takes us to. He suggested that we should check it out when we had a chance. Seeing that he actually was up for some minor letterboxing, how could I refuse?

So Sunday, 2/13 rolled around. Since it was Valentine's Day weekend, he had made dinner reservations for us at a nice local restaurant for 7:30. We had spent that morning running a 5K in Chinatown, and then afterward stayed there for the Chinese New Year festivities. By the time we got home in the afternoon, we were bushed, so we took a nap, and he woke us up at around 6PM and said we should get ready to go out. Now, my boyfriend is typically not a very punctual person, so I was impressed that he wanted to get up a little earlier so we would have some time to go look for the HH and still make it to the restaurant in time. I figured he thought I would enjoy stamping the HH in my logbook.

It was pretty much dark when we got to Wooly's hiding spot. I'd never really been there at night, and was surprised to find that the location is pretty well lit, with a warm yellowish light emanating from the streetlight. We retrieved the box and I sat on a bench and opened it. I saw the HH wrapped in a napkin sitting in a little baggie. The first thing I noticed was that the HH didn't have its own logbook. I looked in my Wooly's logbook and saw that C-Bear and Koko had been there that day and stamped in, but no HH imprint!! I couldn't help but think that StevieFranklin2005 definitely was new at this, and that he should have at least looked up how to create a HH somewhere online. "Well, I'll just look at the stamp itself, then," I thought to myself. I took it out of the bag and unwrapped it. It wasn't as impressive as StevieFranklin2005 had described it to be. It only had a few words and some hearts carved into it. I kind of figured out what the words said and found that it was a Valentine's Day themed HH!! I was beginning to think what an interesting idea it was to place a themed HH in my box, when I heard my boyfriend ask me, "So what does it say?" I looked up and saw him busily kneeling down tying his shoe.

"It's funny," I said, "It says `Will You Marry Me?'"

"Well, will you?"

I looked up at him again, somewhat confused. There he was, kneeling in front of me, with a little box in his hands. I was totally floored!!! The ring was beautiful! And OF COURSE I SAID YES!!!

The funny thing is, as my mind was swimming around in all the excitement, I was still confused, and wondered where StevieFranklin2005's HH was. In case you hadn't figured it out by now (like me,) it turned out my boyfriend, now "fiancée," had made it all up!! I had no idea he could be so creative.

Today I got an email from C-Bear and Koko telling me they had found my box and that there was a personal stamp in there for me. I found that hilarious! Thanks to the two of you for not having mistaken the stamp for a real HH, and for contributing to the best moment of my life!!!

I have always been appreciative of the places that LB'ing has taken me to, but never did I imagine that it would take me here!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!!!!