I have been remiss in writing and posting letters to you. Ten years have gone by since I last saw you and first started writing and saving letters. I just came across my favorite picture of you from when you were just one in my jewelry box. How sad that time and distance and the two new visible grandchildren my grown-up sons have given me, have let me push the memory of you aside. Yet I do think of you very often when something triggers a memory or makes me wish for a happy future for you. At your age you probably have a Facebook page, but something has been keeping me from asking to ‘friend’ you and letting you know that you have a grandma over here who is rooting for you. What is keeping me from doing that? I wonder.
How deep those eyes look! I wonder often what you look like now at 14 … likely a fully developed beautiful woman. Not like the plain acne-faced adolescent I was at that time 57 years ago. I try to forget how hard it was to look beyond all the pressures to look, dress, act and be “pretty.” I just read about a horrible practice boys are doing to get girls to send them pictures, even naked ones, on Instagram. I don’t even know what Instagram is or how to use it, but I hope this kind of “sexting” or “internet bullying” is something that you do not participate in, and/or encourage others not to. Hopefully you are into sports or music or something that you love, as your mom was in high school.
So Annie, here I am again praying for your health and happiness. Stay tuned.
Love your real tangible grandmother: PAT