For a brief period of time, Mom lived next door to us (mid-1980s), so there weren't many letters written at that time. It picked up again when Mom moved to Garberville. I used to get a lot of my writing published, and the best part was telling Mom about it. She loved to brag about her kids and grandkids.
Mom may have picked up the letter-writing habit from my grandma, who also wrote regularly. Up until this past year, Mom still wrote (snail mail) letters. I recently discovered that she wrote every week to my brother Mark (who is autistic, and lives in a developmental center). She was so regular in her correspondence with Mark, that when her letters stopped, he suffered anxiety from the absence of her mails.; I now write to every week to Mark, taking up the slack when Mom couldn't write to him anymore. I hadn't realized what a commitment this was, as I don't have the time to write letters now as much as I used to!
As usual, even this past year, I also wrote to Mom every few weeks, even though she couldn't write back. I knew that she would want to know what was going on.
When it comes to cards, Mom liked flowery, "mushy" cards (whereas I like to send humorous & often irreverant ones). She was quite lavish in her expression of love. Here are a few samples of her correspondence from the last years of her life. I am sure that many of her family members still have her letters and cards; Her love and pride for her family friends comes through these mails.. I have chosen three examples of her letters to me here (actually, two are inscriptions on cards, and then one letter). The letter (below) was written on March 24, 2006, in 5 parts:.
