I love this suggestion. I am sure it can be so powerful. I need to write one to my mother who died two years ago this month. Thank you for writing this post.
Thank you, Laura. I so hope you find it meaningful. I had not given it much thought until I saw the video about Jenna Bush Hager’s posthumous letter to her grandfather. My father died in 2013 and since he was 95 years old after a good, long life, he rides lightly on my heart and I don’t feel his absence so keenly. But I’ve been thinking about some other letters of this sort that I might want to write.
What a wonderful idea, Elizabeth, for a variety of reasons. It is a wonderful way to express gratitude and appreciation for a rich contribution to the lives we live today or have lived in past years. It also can help release the sorrow and regret we carry for having failed to express important sentiments at an earlier time. Though the recipient may never read our words, our heart and spirit will be enriched and revitalized from the act of penning those heartspoken words.
Yes, exactly, George! I love the way you framed this. Of course it will vary so much from one person to another and with the relationship they had with the loved one. I can imagine it might be a very helpful way to process complicated emotions as well as to focus on the beauty of the relationship.
Good afternoon Elizabeth. I love this post and will certainly delve into more of your posts when I am home this evening. I have hundreds of letters on a reverse course that my mother and father had written years ago. I have thought of writing to my mother posthumously and I think I am now inclined to do so. Thank you. Tom
Thank you so much for reading and leaving this lovely comment, Tom. I’ll be very interested to hear what you decide to do with all those letters. I’ve got two batches of letters — one are letters that my husband’s uncle wrote home from WWII and the other is a big box of letters my father kept from various people in his family over many decades (Dad was born in 1918 and I found the box when he died in 2013). You might be interested in reading A Thousand Letters Home: WWII Correspondence of Aaron W. “Bud” Irish, compiled by his daughter Teresa K. Irish. She, too, found the letters in a trunk after her father died within the last few years, and since he was such a prolific writer and good observer of what he was going through, it is quite an important chronicle of his experience and those with whom he served and fought. I imagine that in any large collection of letters, there would also be a lot of mundane details that may not be worth saving. Best of luck.
I love this suggestion. I am sure it can be so powerful. I need to write one to my mother who died two years ago this month. Thank you for writing this post.
Thank you, Laura. I so hope you find it meaningful. I had not given it much thought until I saw the video about Jenna Bush Hager’s posthumous letter to her grandfather. My father died in 2013 and since he was 95 years old after a good, long life, he rides lightly on my heart and I don’t feel his absence so keenly. But I’ve been thinking about some other letters of this sort that I might want to write.
What a wonderful idea, Elizabeth, for a variety of reasons. It is a wonderful way to express gratitude and appreciation for a rich contribution to the lives we live today or have lived in past years. It also can help release the sorrow and regret we carry for having failed to express important sentiments at an earlier time. Though the recipient may never read our words, our heart and spirit will be enriched and revitalized from the act of penning those heartspoken words.
Yes, exactly, George! I love the way you framed this. Of course it will vary so much from one person to another and with the relationship they had with the loved one. I can imagine it might be a very helpful way to process complicated emotions as well as to focus on the beauty of the relationship.
Good afternoon Elizabeth. I love this post and will certainly delve into more of your posts when I am home this evening. I have hundreds of letters on a reverse course that my mother and father had written years ago. I have thought of writing to my mother posthumously and I think I am now inclined to do so. Thank you. Tom
https://open.substack.com/pub/rowboat23/p/all-my-love-comes-to-those-who-wait?utm_source=app-post-stats-page&r=1lleyh&utm_medium=ios
Thank you so much for reading and leaving this lovely comment, Tom. I’ll be very interested to hear what you decide to do with all those letters. I’ve got two batches of letters — one are letters that my husband’s uncle wrote home from WWII and the other is a big box of letters my father kept from various people in his family over many decades (Dad was born in 1918 and I found the box when he died in 2013). You might be interested in reading A Thousand Letters Home: WWII Correspondence of Aaron W. “Bud” Irish, compiled by his daughter Teresa K. Irish. She, too, found the letters in a trunk after her father died within the last few years, and since he was such a prolific writer and good observer of what he was going through, it is quite an important chronicle of his experience and those with whom he served and fought. I imagine that in any large collection of letters, there would also be a lot of mundane details that may not be worth saving. Best of luck.