A Letter of Love

In the 1990's I became introduced to Email via the job I was working at.

How awesome it was to type out a quick sentiment and within seconds the person could receive it.

I would never have to write another letter again!

But emails lack the ability to produce such emotions as a tattered, age stained letter from many years ago.

On Tuesday I was visiting my grandparents. My grandmother handed me an aged piece of paper that she had kept in her Bible. It was folded neatly and you could tell just by looking and touching it, this piece of paper was old.

It was a letter to me written by my Great Grandmother (Papa Bud's mother) when I was very small.

My paternal Great Grandparents, John Harley and Ellen Mae Roper.

Unfolding this letter I knew I was holding something very dear. My Mae Maw had wrote me a letter explaining to me the true meaning of Christmas.

She wrote to me in this letter: ".....If we will be good little girls Jesus said he would back some day and take us up to heaven to live with him forever. He tells us to mind momma + daddy. Love Mae Ma xx00"

My Mae Maw was quite a lady. One of the finest Christian women I will ever remember. Born 5/13/1913, she had 14 brothers and sisters! Sweet, kind, soft spoken....she raised six boys in the very rural mountains of western North Carolina. My Papa Bud remembers that she made the best chocolate candy he ever tasted.

She died soon after my Pa Pa in 1982. Her funeral was filled with old blue grass gospel hymns. I was only eight when she died, but I knew I had lost someone very dear to me.

Emails are convenient. In this day & age, even necessary. But no email can bring back memories like an aged stained handwritten letter from years ago.