Grieving Husband Inspires Strangers to Spread Love After Sharing 100 Love Letters to Late Wife
Hyong Yi wrote his wife 100 love letters to his deceased wife.
— -- A grieving husband has found a way to pay tribute to his late wife on the anniversary of her passing by handing out 100 heartfelt love letters to strangers and asking them to pass them along to special people in their lives.
"The first 60 are about our life together," Hyong Yi of Charlotte, North Carolina, told ABC News. "The next 30 are focused on the cancer years. The last 10 are an imaginary conversation -- by [letter number] 90 she had already passed away.
"This is for the universe to know who this woman is and how special she is," he added. "That’s important to her and it's important to me."
Yi said it was in 2012 when his wife of 11 years, Catherine, was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer.
On Nov. 21, 2014, Catherine passed away while in hospice care, leaving behind Yi and their two children, Anna, 10, and Alex, 7.
"She cared deeply about her family she cared deeply about justice. She was a prosecutor," Yi said. "The last job she had was police attorney for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. She gave all that up so she could spend more time with her kids. She gave it all up because she wanted the kids to know her and that was more important to her."
Following the loss of Catherine, Yi said he had a difficult time emotionally -- especially in the months leading up to the anniversary of her death.
"I just had to hold on and deal with it as best as I could," he said. "[I said] 'What can I do to take control of this day?' and so, 100 love notes. ... I decided I'm going to write love letters to my wife."
Beginning in September, Yi wrote 100 love notes to Catherine and with his children, passed them out to strangers on the street in hopes they will forward them to their own loved ones.
Since giving out the letters, the hashtag #100lovenotes has sparked a social media movement with users posting photos and videos expressing their feelings to the ones they care for.
"I really hope that at least one person took one of those love notes and handed it out to someone they love," Yi said. "What I can't do is go home and tell my wife 'I love you' because she's not there anymore. It's something I wish I did more of. ... I wish I had spent every waking moment making her feel loved."
"I hope people pause daily, think about the love in their life and say I love you," Yi said.
