Letter #81 - Granny

When I met my husband I was so excited to also meet his grandparents.  I lost both of my grandfathers by age 10, and one of my grandmothers when I was in college.  I never really lived very close to any of them for long so I always felt as if I got a little gypped when it came to having a relationship with my grandparents like some people do.  My husband had those relationships and when I met him he still had three living grandparents.  By the time we got married her had lost two of them and is now down to just Granny.

Granny is simply awesome.  She is fiercely independent (slowly less so as hip replacements and knee surgeries slow her down) and has a fantastic sense of humour.  I decided to send her a note because I would like to continue to develop my relationship with her.  She adores her family (4 sons, 3 daughter in laws, a dozen grandkids plus their spouses and a couple of great-grandchildren...!)  I sent her some photos from our wedding, from our honeymoon, and of our kitties, along with well wishes and some updates on things going on in our lives right now.  I actually hesitated before sealing the envelope, thinking I should let my husband add his own stuff too, then decided he really didn't have to and this could be allowed to just be mine.

Letter #3 - Myrna

Last night I wrote my note to Bob, then was still awake enough (and not yet covered in cats) to write one more note before turning out the light.  I decided to send letter #3 to Myrna, a long time family friend.  Myrna was friends with my grandmother, so she's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.  She and my grandmother lived in the same building for awhile, and while Grandma was still alive, we saw Myrna pretty regularly.  As time went on, after Grandma died, we saw less and less of Myrna, mostly due to Myrna's health slowly limiting her mobility (as far as getting herself places and not relying on transportation from others).  I was really pleased to see her this past month at a church function and spent some time chatting with her.

Writing her letter brought back all kinds of memories of my grandmother, even though I didn't talk about her in my letter.  Just remembering the apartment complex they both lived in, times spent there with my family, my cousin and I occasionally cleaning the place for her, or going over to take her shopping.  It was nice to have some time to remember those moments rather than the less fun ones from later in her life.

The letter itself felt a little forced, I think because I haven't been in touch for so long, I paused often to try and think what I should write next.  I ended up sharing a lot with her about our past few months as a married couple, and about our new kittens (photo enclosed of course!).  The experience reminded me that communication is not only a strong tool, but it's kind of like a whole set of muscles... you need to continue using them in order for it to come easily.  When you stop communicating with someone, the first few times you try to pick it back up may feel odd, or forced.  It was a reminder to me that it's important to keep working out those "muscles" :o)  Good thing I have this challenge to do exactly that!