Fall is the time of year that reminds me most of my grandmother. Today, October 20, is her birthday; she would have been 97 this year. She loved this season, as the clouds blow in to form shadows over the bright foliage, and the cooler temperatures require extra bundling up. "Good snuggling weather," she would say.
Fall is also the time her cards would start coming. She wrote letters to many friends and relatives throughout her life. For me, she began writing me nearly every week when I went away to college in 1995. Her letters were a welcome sight in my post office box - a message from home.
She wrote of everyday things. There is nothing too profound or eventful in her letters – no deep wisdom for the ages. Instead, she wrote about the simple beauty of nature that she saw from her porch window, the small amusements she found from my Grampa’s and others’ actions, the memories of years gone by. Her voice comes through in her writing – it is occasionally poetic and often conversational.
Reading her letters now, I feel a sense of peace - not just as a granddaughter remembering her grandmother. Peace also comes from the hidden world her letters reveal: a world full of little everyday occurrences that, if we are able to take notice of them, can take some stress out of our busy lives and make us sit up and smile.
And so, here follow some of my letters from Gram. Take a peek; take a breath; take a look - and smile.
Frances Miriam Agnes King Holmes Sawyer Braman
October 20, 1917 - September 13, 2012
Can't wait!
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