Handwritten or typed on a computer, but let them be of love.
Every February 14, the elders of San Sebastián de los Reyes (Madrid) write letters to celebrate Valentine's Day.
This is a contest organized by the Gloria Fuertes Municipal Center of the municipality for 20 years.
Some of these writings “are authentic works of art” for Israel Artemio, professor of the center's creative writing workshop.
“At first they are reluctant to participate, they think they don't know what to write about, but in the end they always dare because they like to show feelings,” says Artemio.
This is an initiative in which more than 300 people have participated during these two decades and in which the important thing is to keep the creativity of retirees over 60 years old active.
In a cardboard box are piled up the 16 letters signed under a pseudonym that have been submitted to the competition this edition.
There are love in all its variants.
For example, to a lifetime in love.
“Today is cold (the weatherman already said it yesterday) and you, even though we have heating, have put a blanket over your knees [...].
It's been so many years but I've seen you radiant and I've said to myself, 'love, for me, you don't pass.'
Dalia
prefers to dedicate it to a very special member of her family.
“You appeared and I remained ecstatic, I looked at your eyes, they were the most striking thing about you, your big pianist's hands, and that blonde hair.
I noticed what many people call a crush.
Today, after so many years, I took the time to tell you how much I love you.
You tell me this every day and you don't get tired, something that makes me feel the happiest in the world.
And if I don't tell you anyway, it's because you're getting ahead of yourself.
That doesn't make you love me more, my son."
Marieta
chose what words to say goodbye to her.
“I have learned to live without you, you left me the most important gift, our children.
When the sky is starry, I know that your star looks at me and winks at me.
All the people who love are loved.”
And
Luna
wanted to cross an entire ocean with her letter.
“Dearest and only longed-for grandson, I look and look at your photographs, and I feel everything I have missed [...].
I know that your life and that of your mother are in Argentina.
“She receives a hug as big as the distance that separates us.”
Israel Artemio reads one of the letters from the Love Letter ContestAmanda Rodríguez
Letters submitted to the competition can be written in prose or verse and addressed to any recipient.
Watercolor
writes to an inkwell, her faithful friend.
“They were pastel tones, the ones you gave me during my childhood.
During adolescence, a thousand fluorescent and striking tones came out, which marked the silhouette of my personality with the colors that even today, I take care of with care.[...] Now that you begin to decorate my hair with white, dear inkwell, I am writing to you having taught me to use my heart.”
Among the participants, there are older people with a low level of culture and others who have managed to publish a book like Juan Morales, 74 years old, winner of this contest three times.
Morales says that he writes “a love letter to the letter,” because he longs for the voice of the postman shouting under the balconies.
“Now you only find letters from the bank in the mailbox,” he laments.
The 2023 winner was Mari Carmen González Blázquez, 77 years old.
She had considered herself a “school failure” all her life, but at age 28 she discovered that she was dyslexic.
“When I was studying, the syllabus was not adapted like it is now,” she admits.
For her, writing was a challenge.
“I was scared to pick up a pen.”
She mistakenly signed up for a communication workshop at the center and liked it so much that she signed up for another literature workshop.
There she realized that she was very capable of writing.
Artemio recognizes that “even people with dementia, with the right premises, are capable of being creative and writing their letters.”
Juan Morales at the Gloria Fuertes Senior Center in San Sebastián de los ReyesAmanda Rodríguez
José Manuel García, sociocultural revitalization technician, indicates that the mission with the elderly is for them to be able to express themselves.
“In the end, writing is undressing,” he justifies.
García takes a letter from the box where they are kept and begins to read it.
“The three of us met for a snack, Arturito, him and me.
I bought a lycra dress two sizes too small.
I attracted a lot of attention and disappointment came.
“He was in love with Arturito and I was the cover.”
He laughs.
“They are very ironic and that is because of experience, they know where they can put the mischief,” concludes García.
Manuel Martín-Loeches, neuroscientist at the Complutense University, confirms that retirement affects the correct functioning of the brain.
“If they do not work and are also alone, they no longer need to solve problems or minimal social challenges of coexistence.
What the brain does not use, it loses.”
This expert insists that writing letters is a good activity to stimulate cognitive abilities.
“They have to take out what they store in their heads and choose the best way to tell it so that it reaches their recipient in the way they want.”
Martín-Loeches assures that other situations such as group games in which collaboration, participation or transmission of information are developed are useful to enhance the mental health of the elderly.
Israel Artemio and his students in one of the literature workshopsAmanda Rodríguez
The qualifying jury for the contest is made up of a person professionally linked to the world of literature, a spokesperson chosen from among the participants in the literary workshops and a representative of each of the local senior citizens' associations.
In addition, the jury will be chaired by the city's Councilor for the Elderly, Mercedes Bonilla.
The contest prizes are cultural.
They can be in the form of lots of books or tickets for shows at the Adolfo Marsillach Auditorium.
The awards ceremony will be held publicly on February 15 in the Gloria Fuertes assembly hall.
Subscribe here
to our daily newsletter about Madrid.