A Heartspoken Connection Story:
Mystery and Friendship Born from Forgotten Letters
If you’d prefer to listen instead of read this post:
The Backstory from Elizabeth
This story’s author, Lisa Lee Mills, is an active member of our Facebook group, “The Art of the Heartspoken Note.” This past summer, she shared the excitement of buying an antique vanity and finding old letters inside. The mystery unfolded for us in the group, but she has generously offered to share it here, along with her photos. Thank you, Lisa!
In August 2021, while living in Charlotte, North Carolina, I was searching for a very specific vanity. I couldn’t physically describe the style I was looking for, but like love, I would know it when I found it. After nearly a year of searching, I stumbled upon an ad on Facebook Marketplace advertising this Vanleigh Art Deco style vanity and matching chair with original pink damask chair padding.
I was awestruck by its beauty. I have been in love with all things Art Deco since watching the great English actor David Suchet playing the infamous Belgian detective, “Hercule Poirot.”
A neighbor with a pickup agreed to take me further into Charlotte, about 45 minutes northeast of where I lived then, to purchase it. All the arrangements were made and early Saturday morning, we showed up to a beautiful home where the husband had already taken it out of the garage for loading. I was mesmerized and nearly giddy with excitement! Not only was it in excellent condition, but the seat cushion was pink, my favorite color. The chair was very sturdy, not rickety or wobbly at all, as one might expect from something crafted so many years ago.
The mystery in the drawer
What does all this have to do with the Art of the Heartspoken Note?
Everything!
Because in addition to getting exactly what I wanted and tracing it back to a family in New York, the seller unknowingly left several handwritten letters in the top drawer of the vanity…letters that were written by a young girl in her first year of college and living away from home for the first time. These letters were written to her parents explaining all the thrills and hard work of college life! Each letter is postmarked from Potsdam, New York, in the year of Our Lord, 1959: the first, on September 12 at 11 AM, the second on October 8 at 5:30 PM, and the third on October 13 at 11 AM.
While I wasn’t fully comfortable reading someone else’s letters, I couldn’t resist. I wanted to return the letters to their rightful owner, but my initial search did not turn up any family members that I could write or return these letters to. How thrilling it would be to present these to either the woman who wrote them or to a surviving family member! This family, whose house I was able to find online, lived in Ravena, New York. Their daughter Sandra was writing to her parents from the New York State Teachers College at Potsdam, now known as the State University of New York at Potsdam.
The letters have faded with time and are yellowed around the edges. They were written with a blue fountain pen on very thin and dainty paper, very much like rice paper. In one of the letters, there’s even a clipping from the school newspaper about the successful Freshman Show presented by the “Class of 1963,” which included Sandy. She had even drawn a small arrow over her head in the picture with the words “guess who.”
I share this story to underscore the lasting importance of handwritten notes and letters. How I, a stranger to this family, found joy in reading about young Sandy’s college experiences and even seeing a picture of her! How thrilling!
Letters tell a story
The great US author and historian David McCullough often stated in interviews his books could not have been written without going through all the letters and diaries of those he wrote about and how in 100 years, all this information would be lost forever if not for us now living to keep diaries, journals and to continue writing letters. In our fast-paced world, text messages, emails, and social media posts rule the day, but I, for one, commit to maintaining the joy and discipline of putting pen to paper and I hope you’ll do the same.
The rest of the story…
Through a phone call I made to the Alumni Association of the college, Sandy and I made contact and have since had several conversations via email, telephone and most recently, a Zoom call, in which we both got to “meet “each other face-to-face. From the moment we spoke, we had an instant and immediate rapport. As Anne Shirley said in Anne of Green Gables, “Kindred spirits are not so scarce as I used to think. It’s splendid to find out there are so many of them in the world.”
This has certainly been true in my own life.
Sandy and I are thrilled at our growing friendship and the way we connected over letters that were written 65 years ago. A subsequent phone call lasted over four hours! It’s as though we’ve known each other our entire lives! Our families have been equally thrilled with this unfolding friendship that became possible in 2010, when Sandy and her brother had an estate sale after the death of her mother at the age of 95 years old. Her father had passed away years before her mom, when he was 80, and her only sibling, a brother, served in the US Navy right after high school and made a career of serving as a fire department chaplain in Albany, New York.
This entire experience and my growing friendship with Sandy have been among the most joyous of my life. Thank you for allowing me to share this with all of you. In finding this group of beautiful, like-minded individuals who love and practice the art of written correspondence and #HeartspokenNotes, I’ve found my people. I’m grateful for each one of you
About Lisa Lee Mills
Lisa is a new Substack writer, and her profile reads: “Passionate about the Art of Written Correspondence, Authentic Connection, and Meaningful Conversation. Cheerleader and Encourager ❤️” I can vouch for the cheerleader and encourager part, as she has been a valuable and very active contributor to our Heartspoken community.
Check out her writing HERE.
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Have a great week, and always remember: whether written or spoken,
words from the heart will never fail you!
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Wonderful story. Letters (how I miss them!) are a vibrant beautiful connection! Keep up your good work, Elizabeth!
I love this story and Lisa beautifully conveys her search, discover and joy.