Bill Bresnan and wife Kirsten of Toms River, New Jersey (Photo by BRIAN JOHNSTON/Asbury Park Press Staff Photo)
A love note every day for 40 years…
The following article was published on app.com, the website for Asbury Park Press, at 5:31 p.m. EST February 13, 2015.
On ABC News: Would you marry this Toms River man?
BILL BRESNAN, CONTRIBUTOR
Editor’s Note: Bill Bresnan and wife Kirsten of Toms River have been married for nearly 40 years. He has penned more than 10,000 love letters to her — one each night of their marriage. He shares their incredible story of a relationship fueled by love, passion and infinite amounts of expression. Name sound familiar? You may have heard him on “The Bill Bresnan Show,” WABC radio‘s first financial call-in program, beginning in 1982. To this day, he can be heard on local radio shows.
So there I was, in 1974, at the podium of my classroom.
In walks this beautiful, blond, obviously Northern European Woman, (that’s Woman with a capital “W,” by the way) who will become my student for the next six weeks, four evenings per week.
It didn’t take long for an even more serious attraction to develop.
I was preparing candidates to become licensed in the securities industry by taking their Series VII exam. Not long after meeting in class, Kirsten and I began commuting to and from Long Island, together, on the Long Island Railroad.
We exchanged notes, drawings and “little scribblings” on paper napkins over coffee on the train.
The same napkins and notes developed at lunches and dinners later on. It was about this time, in the mid to late 1970s, that I started to send her periodic, funny cards as well as post cards from the various cities at which I was training other students at their own brokerage offices.
I’d mail a card from Chicago, a note from Los Angeles, a napkin from a restaurant in Boston.
Into her scrapbook they went, and the collection took on a life of its own.
Every day — 365 days per year, each year — I write to my wife.
Bill Bresnan writes a card for his wife. He has written her one every day of their 40 year marriage. (Photo: BRIAN JOHNSTON/Asbury Park Press Staff Photo)
The year she turned 50, I started sending her Happy Birthday cards 50 days before the actual date, and one for each day of that milestone year. A filing system of some sort had to be developed. Those wonderful “Pendaflex” hanging, files came to the rescue as each folder was able to hold one month’s cards, notes, etc. Since Kris also gives me cards and notes (no, not every day, but very often), many months have more than just my 29, 30 or 31 cards in them.
To this day, we have organized this collection in such a way so that anytime we’d like to know where we were or what we were doing on a particular day, we take out the file, dated say, August 1981, and revisit the past.
We look back on “romantical” cruises (we both come from seafaring families — Kris’ father was a Norwegian seaman, and my dad was a marine engineer, so we have taken three dozen cruises — our veins are obviously filled with salt water).
Maybe recall romantic dinners at a particular restaurant somewhere.
We read my compliments to Kris on something special she may have cooked one night, see what the weather may have been that day, etc.
One thing that holds true throughout every sentiment — every single card is an expression of my deep love for Kris by being signed, “I love you madly++, my Darling,” followed by the infinity sign.
Expressing that love on a daily basis isn’t by any means where this all ends.
One of 25 boxes full of cards and letters that Bill Bresnan has written his wife over their 40-year marriage. (Photo: BRIAN JOHNSTON/Asbury Park Place Staff Photo)
We eat by candlelight every night with romantic music playing in the background; every good night kiss is followed by I love you, the morning ones, too.
There is no TV in our bedroom and never has been.
When it was possible to have eight digits on license plates, Kris’ plate read, “ELSKRDEG,” which is an abbreviated version of “love you” in Norwegian. The same sentiment is expressed daily in my own e-mail address.
Each dedication page of the various books I’ve had published (“Bill Bresnan Speaks on” series) is just another very public way of expressing just how I feel for her in English, Norwegian and even in Egyptian hieroglyphs.
Some time ago — Kris wasn’t on this particular trip — I was fortunate enough to visit the monuments of ancient Egypt. Our guide at the time was reading to us from the various deeply carved columns which depicted the harvest, bread making, pro-creation, etc., and just mentioned in passing a sentiment that the Pharaoh must have wanted preserved forever. This line of hieroglyphs spoke, in so many words and characters, of the love he felt for his son. It brought tears to my eyes right there in the desert, and the point stayed with me till I got home. I found a volume translating these ancient writings, located the exact column and quote and had the very same hieroglyphs engraved around a pinkie ring that Kris has worn each day for more than 40 years.
The translation of this phrase is far too personal to disclose here, but the meaning and text is everything to us.
Another very “romantical” occasion came to mind as I typed these few words.
We have always enjoyed 1955’s “Summertime,” staring Katharine Hepburn and Rossanno Brazzi. A number of years ago, we decided to re-enact that particular love story for ourselves. Cunard took us out of Florida; six days across the Atlantic and then across the Mediterranean to Genoa, Italy. We, eventually, got ourselves to the famous Milano Centrale Railway Station where a high-speed train ride took us over the railway viaduct and into the Stazione di Venezia, Santa Lucia. We took the water taxi to our pensione, and that evening, ate at the foot of the Rialto Bridge right on the canal’s edge.
After dinner we walked, as all visitors to Venice must, over to Piazza San Marco so I could have one of the groups of musicians play not only the “Summertime” theme, but “Al Di La” for Kris.
That’s a “romanticalissmo” event you all need to experience.
The bottom line to this story?
The route to experiencing “Decades of Love” is to each work at it every day.
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show (non-) personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
