Today, after a long porch visit, my friend, Lynne, gave me a box. I didn't open it until I got home. In it were years of love notes I had written her (the oldest was dated 2005). I didn't quite know what to think. She knew I liked to repurpose old cards and thought I might find something useful in ones I had sent her.
What I found was a postal journal of our friendship and my life since meeting her. What a gift this box of memories is.Of the dozens of postcards, Disneyland was represented the most. I delighted in reading what I had written. This one from 2008 shares, "As I was walking into the Park, a man loudly asked his family, 'Are you ready for the magic?' His kids and I yelled simultaneously, 'Oh YEAH!'" Many, many Disney memories were revived via Lynne's return of my postcards.Trips were relived, too. Fort Worth was pre-blog so I didn't remember the details too well. May, 17, 2008- "The town is more magical than I remembered. Quiet during the day. Clean. Fun. Alive at night. We went to the Improv last night... Hysterical. We wandered the streets. Dinner was a barbecued bologna sandwich at Riscky's (since 1927). YUM. Today, we are breakfasting in the courtyard of La Madeleine... a French Bistro. Today, we'll hang out in the Stockyard District. Love to you both."I've shared this Grand Canyon postcard before but I didn't have an image of the backside.This reminded me of the fear I had of maybe not making it to the bottom and out again. I had prepped this postcard before departing and had two choices of outcomes I was to check off after the journey. Thankfully, I didn't have to check option #2 "I had to be helped out and I will share all the details with you later... after I recover!" Funny stuff.I even sent a letter "Mailed by Mule at the Bottom of the Grand Canyon Phantom Ranch". So dang cool.I shared important events with her, via the post as well. Bellagio for our 20th where "streets were lined with incredible shops and fashionable Italians".Our once-in-a-lifetime trip to China for my 46th was captured in a beautiful postcard. What a spectacular reminder of an incredible adventure.Most of the cards were heartfelt testaments of our friendship, while some were just silly, sent to evoke smiles. This one still cracks me up.The most poignant was this, buried deeply. I had no idea it had been kept. It is my bib number from the City of Hope's Walk of Hope. On my birthday, in 2007, the City of Hope saved Lynne with a bone marrow transplant. My effort at payback was this walk. What an emotional time that was in our friendship and what a treasured reminder of how lucky I am to still have Lynne in my life. Oh man, the power of mail: sent, received, and even more so, returned (surprisingly).
"A written note, a letter, a simple line of sympathy or writing loving phrases
is like a warm, human hand-clasp to some one lonely
or in the midst of an attack of the blues.
A letter means many pleasant things
and can keep the far-distant together."
-On Writing Notes, The Crescent of Gamma Phi Beta, 1904
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1 comments:
What an incredible gift for you!
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