What is a Truly Remarkable Gift....

I'm sure to everyone out there...that question can mean any number of things....from pot holders to Golf Clubs...Huge (what the hell is that) diamond rings...to vacations to exotic places...(hopefully without catching a local disease)...Sewing machines....to family members being home...(two of mine)....the lists are as diverse and endless...as the snowflakes that I DON'T see falling outside my window....


I was lucky enough this holiday season to recieve a truly remarkable gift...(I put it between sewing machine and Juice on the remarkable scale)....While visiting family over the Thanksgiving holiday....after the tripdafan wore off....we were able to go through just a small smidgen of the things they have of my Grandmothers....

I'm sure any of you (my bloggy friends) who have gone through those things that generations past have so lovingly and thoughtfully stored.....it is quite an experience...I made me laugh....it made me cry....and it made me remember....


We split all the things that we found between my sister and I....because sisters share....(if you don't you really should).....and I was lucky enough to be blessed with what I think will be my most prized possessions from her....


A stack of letters that give a voice to my past....and guidence to my future....These letters were written mostly by my Great Great Grandmother and Grandfather...with a few from a Great uncle and aunt....and some cousins....all written between 1908 and 1929....it is truly a gift that means more to me than the fabulous Wii that is sitting still in the box in front of my T.V. (I am NOT good at that...heck how to use the universal remote is beyond my scope of reasoning).

Over the last week I have gone through and read....one letter a day...to hear the voice of someone who's been gone long before I was born...what I find truly amazing is that she would write something in a way that is exactly the way my grandmother spoke....


In one letter she talks about the love she has for her children....and how very sad she is when one dies at the age of 18....



In another letter she expresses her regret that she wasn't able to spend more time with my Great Grandmother who got married and left home at 14.....

I think I also feel a connection with the women who so lovingly put their feelings in these letters from a mothers standpoint....Even though little Pooh is only 9 months old...I can imagine how lonesome I will be for him when he leaves the nest to start his own life...all those emotions, thoughts and wishes...that she has felt....I will feel....


The letter I read last night....was written right before Xmas in 1928...it was her Xmas wish for her family who was far away...and that she hoped to see them soon....

I have gotten an insight into how hard living in that time was for many....an influenza outbreak swept the town in 1926.....


I have learned how the important things in life....namely family and faith....don't change throughout the generations....




And I've learned ...how remarkable it really is that these letters have remained....for me to read....almost 100 years later....even though the faint script on the tattered yellowed paper is getting hard to read...


I have learned...that I want Pooh and his cousins...and his children...and their children....to know where they came from...as it has been such an enlightening experience to learn that for myself...


So I have been typing all of the letters I have read and am taking pictures of all the pages....so that there will be a record...for when the day comes and the originals are no longer with us....


I cannot imagine a better story...then the one I have been reading.....truly remarkable.....