Letter #58 - Alyssa

Some people just worm their way into your heart and stay there.  Alyssa is one of those people.  I almost never get to see her anymore, she and her husband share a phone to cut costs and she's awful with email, so it seems the only times I get to see her is if she happens to be at my folks' house at the same time as me.  We met Alyssa when my mum first got sick.  Things were so hard for us that no one even had the energy to clean, so we found some extra pennies somewhere and cashed them in with a house cleaning service.  Alyssa was one of the girls who showed up ready to work, and she rocked it out.  We began requesting her not only because of her skill, but because she was so caring and attentive.  She would run things by my mum, or suggest places that looked like they needed some extra care.  No added expense, just added professionalism.  She quickly grew to be a part of the family.  Then she got engaged.  We were all so excited for her, had her fiance over for dinner with her so we could meet him, and then they hired me to be their wedding photographer.  It was awesome, and the first wedding I'd ever been paid for.

Alyssa is an animal fanatic.  She used to always spend her breaks playing with our critters, and mourned our losses with us when Herman and Fowler went missing.  I decided to take our friendship into my own hands and sent her a letter, inviting her to get in touch with me so we could have her and her husband over for dinner sometime.  I also sweetened the pot by including some photos of the kitties :o)

I really hope she gets in touch with me, because I miss her a bunch.  As mum's health improved, we needed to cut costs and the cleaning became more of a luxury again, so now my folks only call Alyssa in on rare occasions.  Plus I don't live at home with them anymore, so when she *is* there, I'm not.  I would love to have her and Michael over for an evening to hang out, eat drink and maybe play some wii or something, I think they'd be totally game for that :o)

Letter #23 - Tante Mary

I have never really gotten to know my grandparents very well.  Moving around has taken me geographically far from them most of my life, and now I only have one who is still living.  As a result, I don't know them nearly as well as I would have liked.  I've always envied my husband who had all four of his grandparents until he was in his twenties.

On the flip side, I have had the blessing of getting to know some of my great aunts and uncles very well.  When my family lived in the Netherlands, I was able to meet a lot of my fathers' extended family.  One of these is my Tante (Aunt) Mary.  Her husband passed away before we moved there so I never got to meet him, but she is a wonderful wonderful lady.  We spent so much time with her, shopping, sitting chatting, drinking tea, etc.  When I was able to take my husband with me to Europe to meet some of my friends & family, we spent lots of time with Tante Mary.  She introduced Austin to stamppot, which is why I now have to make it regularly for him :o)

My note to Tante Mary included some photos of the kittens - she's a critter freak too :o)  Her dog Rocky is 15 years old and acts like a puppy still.  Tante Mary isn't much of a writer, but I know she enjoys hearing from us.  I usually hear from her at my birthday and at Christmas, and I hope that life will allow us to go back and visit at least one more time before she's no longer with us...!