Letter #30 5/5/21
Stories of A Lifetime Presents: “The Letters”
Community correspondence sparked from the isolating 2020 pandemic focused on easing the burden of loneliness.
Hello, my name is Holly. I am 41 years old and a single mom of a 10-year-old boy named Easton. His father passed away from cancer three years ago. I enjoy writing, I love history, and I like DIY home projects. I miss my grandma, and I know that if she were alive, she’d be so happy to receive a letter. It wouldn’t matter if the writing was profound or merely about what I ate for dinner, it would make her smile. So, my friend, I’d like to write some letters to you. It will help me feel useful and less lonely, and I hope the letters help you and that they spark you to reminisce about your own life, love, and good times.
May 5th, 2021
Dear Friend,
Happy Mother’s Day to you, my friend, or to the moms in your life! I hope you know that you are appreciated. Do you remember giving your mom anything special for Mother’s Day? Did you ever receive anything extra special on Mother’s Day? I’d love to hear about it.
One year when I was little, I wrapped up the biggest box I could find in our house. I gave my mom this huge box while she was still laying in bed. She excitedly opened it only to find it empty. Then, I told her it was the biggest box I could find to hold my love for her. I don’t know if she thought it was sweet or if she thought, “Hmmm. I could’ve slept a little longer instead of being woken up for this.” Haha! Either way, what’s a kid to do when you’re stuck with only your creativity to come up with a gift? Hopefully for other years my grandma or sisters intervened and actually helped me get her something more exciting.
My mom helps my son get gifts for me. She says that he usually has a vision of what he wants for me, and she tries to let him find it. One year he picked out some very BRIGHT nail polish colors for me, and he wanted me to use a different color on every nail. This past Christmas he gave me a very nice necklace with a “Mom” charm on it. When I opened the jewelry box the price tag was still on it. I told him how gorgeous the necklace was and that I loved it, but I also told him that when he gives jewelry to a girl, he should remove the tag. He cheerfully said, “No. It’s ok! Grandma had coupons and Kohl’s Cash!” Haha! Oh, that kid. Of course, Grandma had coupons!
The weather is getting nicer, the trees are popping with color, and plants are sprouting. I’m so disappointed, though, my friend. Last summer I planted 28 hostas at the end of my driveway by some pine trees. The different types of hostas were laid out beautifully and finished off the gorgeous shaded entry to my yard. My driveway is over 100 feet long, and I hauled buckets of water to these hostas all summer. So many buckets of water! Back and forth. Back and forth. Keeping these hostas alive. By fall they were thriving, and I couldn’t wait for next year for them to grow in even fuller. Well, so far this year there’s not even one sprout pushing up. It looks like all 28 hostas perished. I don’t know what happened. We had a lot of snow but hostas are usually super hardy. Do you think something from the pine trees could’ve hurt them? All I can discern is that, even though they are about 10 feet from the road, salt from the street damaged them. What do you think? I don’t think I have the desire to replant and go through all that work again. Time to weed, lay down some mulch, and call that area done. On to the next project!
With love,
Holly
If you’d like to write back to me, you are very welcome to.
I will get a PO Box soon and let you know what that is. For now, maybe someone could help you scan and email your letters back to me at Holly@StoriesofALifetimeLLC.com. Otherwise, maybe you’ll find it helpful to just journal your thoughts and write them down without sending them. You do what is helpful to you, friend.
Conversation Starters:
Do you remember giving your mom anything special for Mother’s Day? Did you ever receive anything extra special on Mother’s Day? Do you think something from the pine trees hurt my hostas? Do you think the salt from the road damaged the hostas?