Letters From The Dead

[Gilbey]

During the days before the internet and email, there was the snail mail that me and my grandmother used for correspondence. Her letters have accumulated during the years and they're all stored in a plastic bin. My grandmother has already passed away, and from time to time when I think of her, I would open the plastic bin and read her letters again (pretending as if I just got them). It's a funny feeling reading them again. It's like she's still alive! She lives on in those letters, and it makes me smile once again.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

That is lovely!

 

[BegintheBeguine]

That's very sweet

My late dad left a few messages on the answering machine and I kept them. I also kept some notes he left for me and my hubby. My late hubby wrote me some heartbreaking letters when he lived in California and I ioved here almost 10 years ago and I read them again every so often.
That's nice that you kept the letters and read them as if you just got them. When I moved back here from my hometown of Atlanta someone publishing a little newspaper wanted recollections of the old punk scene. I remembered I used to write back then to my brother who told me, and his wife told me, that reading my letters made them feel as if they were there. So I called and asked him for the letters. "Oh I threw those away when we moved." I'm still stunned that someone could throw away anything irreplaceable and wonder about the motives behind it; it's not just to save space. It's not as if I'm dead, though.

 

[Nashoba]

I'm ridiculous about keeping old letters. I have notes written to me in the 7th grade still. In a box that I don't even let my husband near are letters written by people who havn't been in my life for years. I also have all of his old letters and all the letters he got when he was at boot and then in alabama. And all the letters he's gotten from his previous tours in Iraq that I wrote him and others wrote him. I was actually looking at some of them the other day. it's amazing how quickly you can be transported.
Especially with letters from those who are gone. I can't imagine throwing those away, far to precious!

 

[dhermann1]

I have probably a couple thousand old family letters, photos and diaries, dating back to before the Civil War, and especially from the 1890 to 1960 period. I could use my own personal graduate student to catalog them. They are dangerously fascinating. Every time I start digging into them I get sidetracked. That's where I found the "Letter from Tokyo" that I posted in the WWII forum. I just found a locket with a porcelain picture of my great grandmother, inscribed "To George (my great grandfather) - 1868" and hidden underneath the photo was a lock of her hair, tied in a blue ribbon.
Anyone want to volunteer?

 

[GwenLake]

I have probably a couple thousand old family letters, photos and diaries, dating back to before the Civil War, and especially from the 1890 to 1960 period. I could use my own personal graduate student to catalog them. They are dangerously fascinating. Every time I start digging into them I get sidetracked. That's where I found the "Letter from Tokyo" that I posted in the WWII forum. I just found a locket with a porcelain picture of my great grandmother, inscribed "To George (my great grandfather) - 1868" and hidden underneath the photo was a lock of her hair, tied in a blue ribbon.
Anyone want to volunteer?

If I lived closer I'd do it in a heartbeat.

 

[carter]

It's not as if I'm dead, though.

Dear Lady, Perish the thought! You are truly one of the warmest voices on the Lounge. I enjoy each post I read and yours more than most.

I still have letters from decades ago as well as family photos and memorabilia from the 1800's forward. To cherish our heritage and preserve it for future generations is worthwhile. After all, we don't dwell in the past, instead we are caretakers for a space of time. Then we pass it on.
Carter

 

[Miss Sis]

When I was teenager I wrote every week to a friend who had moved away. She has the letters I sent her and I have a bundle of hers. I always think that someday someone might read them and find it interesting the things we did or what we were interested in.

It was pre e-mail days, which I can see the next generation saying 'Whoah! No e-mail????' but a letter is so much more personal. I keep in touch with my friends by e-mail now as we are all over the world but nothing can beat a letter on the doormat when you get in.