I carry your heart.

Friday, October 21, 2011


When I first saw this picture on Pinterest, it took me a few moments to figure it out. But when I did, it touched me so much. I love imagining some young man, scissors in hand, tongue out and brow furrowed in a perfect picture of concentration, carefully cutting out his sweetheart's face. Was it to fit in a heart-shaped frame, or was it just a moment of whimsy? Did they marry and grow old together, or did they quarrel and part, leaving the picture crumpled and torn, a literal broken heart?

I carry a picture of Fin in my wallet that was taken nearly ten years ago. I see it ten times a day, but rarely do I look at it. Oh, he looks so young in it. I still remember when the picture was taken. I know who he is talking to, just out of shot. It has faded over time, been transferred from purse to purse, become imprinted with a decade's worth of coins and cards and grubby receipts. I know I should really replace it with something more recent, one of our wedding photos maybe, or one that Lucy took, and yet I resist. There is something lovely about that first bit of love, when you are young and sparkly and new.

I hope they did marry. I hope that young man carefully tucked that picture somewhere safe and carried it with him wherever he went. Carried it in his heart.


(Incidentally, Fin has a picture of me in his wallet. It was taken just as we were saying our wedding vows. One of the kids he works with, on seeing it, announced loudly that "Fin's wife is really hot." I love that kid.)


{Image is, I believe, from Even Cleveland but I haven't been able to find the source. If anyone is any the wiser, do let me know.}

Share This Post

Tags: , ,

11 boats moored

  1. The Twenty Something Newlywed21 October 2011 at 08:25

    Oh Kirsty, what a truly beautiful, heart-warming post.Lovely :) x

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amanda21 October 2011 at 08:53

    Oh so lovely. The story about that cut out picture.I also carry an old picture of the boy, and I like that it looks old-school, you know, from back in the day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michelle21 October 2011 at 10:42

    So lovely, I love old photos because they always seem to have a wonderful story behind them and this makes for a great story. It makes me want to have more photos taken of my OH and me so that people can find them 50 years from now in an old box in a vintage store. I wonder if they will have the same magic?

    ReplyDelete
  4. claire21 October 2011 at 10:43

    So beautiful. And I love the e e cummings poem too. We had it as a reading at our wedding

    ReplyDelete
  5. Penny21 October 2011 at 10:46

    I can't persuade Sam to carry an actual picture of me, although he did make a batch of pink Penny guitar plectrums with my face on and he's always got one of those on him!

    Px

    ReplyDelete
  6. Aisling21 October 2011 at 10:58

    Love the e.e.cummings poem. LOVE.

    Phil carries an Instax of me in his wallet that was taken at 3am one drunken, hot, full-of-dancing-and-bubbles-and-giddiness evening and on the white strip at thhe bottom is my phone number, scrawled in pink biro. (He can't ever remember it, sigh.)

    I'm sure people who see it think I'm his party-time escort girl.

    Meh.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anna K21 October 2011 at 11:01

    Fin's wife, you are super hot.

    I love this picture. I love it so much. I hope the heart part is torn and dogeared and most of all, I hope that in the part that is cut out, this lucky, loved woman is smiling.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Linsey21 October 2011 at 14:42

    We have stickers of us from a photobooth that takes a picture and prints it out on 16 tiny stickers. Mine are very dogeared and sellotaped on but I love them.
    I wonder where the middle of this photo is now.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Unknown21 October 2011 at 16:03

    Sweet & touching! My hubs & I don't carry photos of each other with us, unless you count camera phone photos which is clearly not the same. I'm inspired to find a sweet photo & carry him with me always :-)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Marie21 October 2011 at 17:27

    I love this post and the idea that as you say someone so carefully cut out the picture to carry with them always. So beautiful.

    And you and Fin, too cute the two of you. You're making me think I should carry a photo...

    ReplyDelete
  11. Zoë {Conversation Pieces}14 November 2011 at 15:33

    Aww, love it :) I only recently have one of us in my purse - it's a polaroid from NY. But N has one of me from when we were first together... I look both super young and somehow exactly the same which is rather weird! But yes it's nice that it's there...

    ReplyDelete