I must admit blogging was not on my to-do list today, I am short staffed at the plantation since my trusty employee wanted to go on vacation…gee, imagine that a vacation? Seriously he is a good kid and still young enough that his parents include him in on the family vacation, maybe next time I should suggest he bring his boss along! I am also in the middle of negotiating some exciting new changes at the center I oversee, needless to say though I am exhausted
That said, this evening my daughter reminded me of how amazing the simple things are in this high pressure tech savvy world we live in. Regular readers may recall at the beginning of the year my Pops, aka last remaining parental unit relocated out here to Maine to retire and grow old close to his eldest child and only daughter…me. Well the grand relocate the Pops project lasted exactly a month before my Pops decided Maine was too small, too white and had way too much damn snow for his taste.
Yet in the month he was here, he and my daughter became fast friends and while I admit a part of me was breathing a sigh of relief when he decided to hightail it back to Chicago, I was upset and sad that he was leaving my girl, just as she was getting to know him. Well my Pops despite his many flaws is a man of his word and promised me he would find a way to keep the grandpa/granddaughter relationship alive and well he’s done it! Pops is a simple man, who only got a cell phone after my Mum’s death seven years ago. Who until recently preferred living in a residential hotel to a traditional apartment, seriously Dad keeps it simple!
Turns out the tool for keeping the connection alive is actually pretty damn old school…letter writing! Yep, letter writing! Every week since he left, in late February, he has written my girl a letter. Now when this started she was still in kindy and couldn’t read nor write back, instead she would dictate the letter and I would do the writing. Yet that started to change a few months ago as she started to learn to read and write, initially when that happened I would write a “translation” note but since she writes phonetically lately as her knowledge grows I have stopped including the translation notes.
Well tonight at bedtime, she surprised me, turns out this afternoon she wrote Grandpa back a three page letter that is completely legible and actually started expanding on little things he says….I will be damned, it’s so cute. In fact daily she comes home and wants to check the mail, waiting for Grandpa’s next letter. It struck me as cute how these letters started out as a way for the two of them to stay connected has also turned into a learning moment as well.
For most of us the art of letter writing is pretty much dead, I admit I love writing letters though and getting them. I find that just the practice of sitting down with a cup of tea, a gorgeous piece of stationery and a great pen, is a great simple way to decompress and reconnect sans the electronics. If you are in need of decompression and want to connect on a deeper letter, try writing a letter to a friend, you will enjoy it!
