Mom is sifting through her things and trying to organize her belongings. She says she wants to get rid of things she doesn't need so it doesn't burden us when her time comes to leave us.
She took out a box of all the letters my mother-in-law who lived on the Big Island and I wrote from Chicago. She said I used to write long letters to her.
She asked me if I wanted to read them. I didn't think I wanted to.
This letter was written in December, 1974.
For one thing, my writing is pretty sloppy and I figured I'd probably sound very childish.
Mom laughed and read it to me.
I couldn't believe I'd written it. There were words I no longer know, phrases I don't use. I couldn't write this letter today if I tried. It was the weirdest sensation. I couldn't recall writing the words. It's like a different person had written them. I wrote about attending a party where there were people from Japan who spoke only Japanese and poor Art couldn't understand a word. I mentioned how I was told I would have difficulty conceiving and that I felt I was letting Art's parents down as well as Art.
Tiffany was born in fall of the following year to somebody I feel I don't think I know.
MY APOLOGY to the Commenting Friends I LOVE:
I'm so sorry I'm having to put up the Word Verification spam blocker again intermittently. I've been getting a flood of SPAM comments which are driving me nuts. I can't take away the Anonymous option because many of my favorite commenters use that method to leave their much appreciated conversation. Therefore, I'll have to resort to the word verification which I hate with a passion, but just every so often when my blood pressure rises.
She took out a box of all the letters my mother-in-law who lived on the Big Island and I wrote from Chicago. She said I used to write long letters to her.
This letter was written in December, 1974.
For one thing, my writing is pretty sloppy and I figured I'd probably sound very childish.
Mom laughed and read it to me.
I couldn't believe I'd written it. There were words I no longer know, phrases I don't use. I couldn't write this letter today if I tried. It was the weirdest sensation. I couldn't recall writing the words. It's like a different person had written them. I wrote about attending a party where there were people from Japan who spoke only Japanese and poor Art couldn't understand a word. I mentioned how I was told I would have difficulty conceiving and that I felt I was letting Art's parents down as well as Art.
Tiffany was born in fall of the following year to somebody I feel I don't think I know.
MY APOLOGY to the Commenting Friends I LOVE:
I'm so sorry I'm having to put up the Word Verification spam blocker again intermittently. I've been getting a flood of SPAM comments which are driving me nuts. I can't take away the Anonymous option because many of my favorite commenters use that method to leave their much appreciated conversation. Therefore, I'll have to resort to the word verification which I hate with a passion, but just every so often when my blood pressure rises.
I'm so impressed that you wrote whole long letters--in Japanese! Your mother must have been (and is) proud, even though she can't say that.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to look back at the past like that.
ReplyDeleteI think its wonderful that your Mum keeps everything, that letter is so precious even if you don't remember, so much was happening to you at the time i'm sure thats why you don't remember, I have forgotten a lot from my young married years too,
ReplyDeleteI went through the process of helping Mum part with things , she called it weeding things out, she died the following February knowing she left things in order, and she wasn't Japanese, so I think this must be a universal desire, to leave things in order, or maybe its the neatness our family seems to have passed on!!!!!
It sure does make it a lot easier on the survivors if people would organize their things.
DeleteI keep several cherished letters written from people who are long gone. It's strange to realize how much we forget we once knew, isn't it? I was once almost fluent in Spanish but hardly remember anything at all now. I hear the words and know them, but I've forgotten how to use them! And I took the Anonymous feature off my blogs so that I wouldn't have to use Word Verification, and the problem is solved. I didn't have any "real" people who used that feature. I still love you, Kay. :-)
ReplyDeleteOh thank you, DJan. I'm afraid I've got several wonderful friends and cousins who use the Anonymous feature so I really don't want to take that away. Cloudia told me you don't even have to write the numbers, just the word works fine and it's true. I tried it.
DeleteRe the Word Verification...it's a sad fact of life, but I don't think anyone will mind taking the extra step to comment on your interesting posts
ReplyDeleteIt is very special that your mom has saved your letters. I expect I would feel the same way about letters I had written that long ago.
ReplyDeleteMy motherless our letters and it is like reading journals.
ReplyDeleteit's rather strange how language skills can almost disappear if not used often. My fiancee's cousin grew up in france when he was very young. He doesn't know any French now, but there's videos of him as a child speaking french fluently.
ReplyDeletewow, I didn't realize your letter was in Japanese-good for you! It's fun to read our old letters from younger years and see how we have changed...
ReplyDeleteI am amazed at how much we change over a long life time. Letters help us understand. What will today's children have to remind them of past times other than grandparents blogs?
ReplyDeleteRe word verification...needs must. Dianne
It's true that with e-mails these days, who's writing letters?
DeleteYes, who Are those who wrote those words of the past?! :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting fact word verification does NOT need the numbers filled in! :-) try it:-)
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried that yet, but I will. Also, I've noticed that sometimes, even if you have one letter incorrect, it still lets you through. ALSO, if you can't clearly see the word, they let you select another one.
DeleteI just tried the word verification. Wow! It really does work without doing the numbers. Great! Thanks for letting me know.
DeleteDear Kay -- how fun that your Mom kept those letters. (Should the translation be written and placed with them? Would K.C.'s children want to read them in the distant future?)
ReplyDeleteI have letters written by my mom before she was 12, to and from her mother who was dying in a TB sanitarium in the 1930s; pretty profound simplicity when you know the back story.
My parents kept some little letters which are goofy to read now. Years ago, my Dad distributed a mixture of photos to each child and grandchild, but he didn't pass away for quite a few years after that photo distribution. It's funny going through them now.
I don't mind doing the "check out" to use Anonymous, but wish I could be brave enough to have an easier signature exit. DrumMajor
How wonderful that your dad shared those letters with everyone. What a keepsake those letters from your mom and grandmother are! With e-mails, this will really be a thing of the past.
DeleteHmm... I never considered translating those letters I sent my mother. I'll think about it.
When I was a child there was a packet of love letters in my mom's drawer, from my dad. Of course I found them and read them. I was looking forward to looking them over again, but they were gone when we put her things in order.
ReplyDeleteI have a box in my storage room that my son gave to me when he moved into our old house where I grew up. He said it is letters and pictures. I haven't the time or guts (just like you who felt hesitant to read your old letters.) I wrote really broken high school level Japanese to my grandfather.
ReplyDeleteL...w
It's really a weird feeling isn't it? You and I have so much in common.
Deletelol...sometimes I think so too...could it be our heritage? Husband always tells me that I'm so "geisha"....not in the real sense but my obligingness to others. I think it is our Japanese values.
DeleteL...w
Although it is true in other cultures as well, I think it's very much part of the Japanese way to not be a burden to others.
DeleteA trip down memory lane. Amazing the changes we go through in our lives. I certainly have had my world tipped upside down but for the better!
ReplyDeletei am keepinh up reading, but typing is a challenge...hugs.. michelle
ReplyDeleteYou are so wonderful to write at a time like this, Michelle.
DeleteI saved some letters I wrote to my mother over the years when we cleaned out her house to move her into assisted living. Six months later she was gone. I have also saved some things I have written over the years, like copies of letters to the editor. Like you, I hardly recognize my own writing!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know you could write in Japanese. Which did you learn first, Japanese of English?
I actually learned Japanese first. I've got a report card from kindergarten about how I was starting to speak English during the second semester. I can't remember much from that early part of my life whereas my brother seems to remember everything.
DeleteI didn't realize that, Kay. Wow
DeleteThat's such a gift to you that she saved these. Yes, I feel like that about the me that writes today too. What a lovely mom you have.
ReplyDeleteHaving this letter is a family treasure.
ReplyDelete