As Monday arrived, I knew I must tackle at least one of my many projects that have been waiting patiently. I chose to work on Photo Organizing... Yes, yes. I know I get so caught up in the memories, good & bad. It is a task that always takes me days as I will get side tracked and I am off doing something else such as today, under-covering some long lost photos that BEGGED to be posted on FaceBook. So, 2 hours later after scanning, tagging, and writing descriptions, I got my 40-some photos up.
That wasn't the only treasure I found.
I found a shoebox stuffed with letters. From the Besties, parents, and Grandparents, written 1977-1981. That is part of High School, and my one year at Vincennes University.
big sigh...
Wow. Talk about some memories. I only opened a few. They brought tears to my eyes. Sometimes I forget how things really were. Some things not so important, turn out to be pretty important. There are so pretty heavy (in a good way) things that were brought to me. I was truly loved by my friends. And my family.
Looks like I was missed when not around.
Most of you know that I spent my summers living in Texas with my Grandparents, during my teen years. It turned out to be the best thing that could ever happen to me and I am extremely grateful that I had those wonderful summers. They were AMAZING. And what I got from my Grandparents few ever get to experience. I was truly Blessed.
The letters that I received, saved and found in this box, show some love from those that missed me. As a teen, I was also kept up on the teen drama & gossip. Some stuff that may not have been written about was in these letters. Remember Young'ens we didn't have cell phones let alone texting & emailing opportunities.
Rarely did you call long distance... Lord knows we "Thought" that was so expensive! So we would write letters, and wait a week to get one back. But we wrote back and forth all the time. Then when we went off to college, we wrote each other back & forth, back & forth.
I have some reading to catch up on tonight. Hopefully, they will be full of the good stuff and not open up some wounds... I'm hoping anyway.
I really need to start writing letters again. It is becoming such a lost art.
I think I will sign off for now and write two brave young nephews that are in Boot Camps right now. That's what I need to do.
The photographs spilled out on the tables, and the letters on the floor, can wait.
I need to write.
3 comments:
Oh how great! Letters are great because a text,email etc can disappear, but letters are there to read over and over! I found a postcard my maternal grandfather wrote me when I was 2 yrs old. He died when I was 9, it is precious to me because it brings to my mind his love for me. I have a grandson in the Air Force and yes we can text and call, but he still likes to get mail. Judy
I had a similar experience this year. First I dug out my 2 shoe boxes full of letters I received at college. I tried to receive every letter I ever received st college, and for all I can remember, I was successful. I, too, got a little misty-eyed reliving those years from long ago. I also got an unexpected packet of letters this past year. After Mom died, Dad went through her things and gave to each of us kids packets of things that related to each of us. In my packet were several letters I had sent my parents while at school. I was touched to know she had kept them, and it helped me realize how much of my college life I had forgotten. It helped me appreciate all the more where my son is in his own life. E-mail and texting is robbing this generation of those potential memories. Too bad!
Love this!
Love letters. Real, hand-written letters. Oh gosh, I remember "Sorry so sloppy, longer letter later", but do you know I've never ever used the word "bestie". :D Don't know why, but I just never have.
Anyway - letters. I think it's a shame that letter writing is becoming a lost art. There is something so personal and touching about receiving something handwritten by someone dear, and even more so, when we hold onto that item long after they're gone.
Remember the envelope that I found on eBay that was addressed to my Great-Uncle, long departed, from the old country to the new? It's just an envelope - hand written by maybe a Great-Grandparent or who knows - but I have that envelope posted on a board in our bedroom and I look at it every so often and am just astounded that an envelope of all things would survive 100 years and end up on an online auction site. How crazy is that.
I have old love letters, but no letters from real Grandparents, because they didn't exist in my lifetime, except for one (my Mom's Mom) who never wrote to me (I was only 7 when she died) and she never went to school. I used to have letters from the mother-in-law of one of my Aunts, who used to let my sisters and I refer to her as Grandma, but I think I might have thrown those all away in a cleaning frenzy years ago. :(
Anyway - I love this post and it brings back such happy memories.
Love, Linda
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