I've just started a new project that I've been intending to do for a LONG time.
Way back in the 1950's, from 1951 right after she got married until 1958, my mom wrote letters from Loma Linda, California, to her parents in Phoenix, Arizona. This includes the time when both I and my younger brother were born! Her mother carefully kept the letters, many in their original envelopes. Much later, after grandpa and grandma had moved to California, my mom got the letters, perhaps even after her parents had died. In any case, we got them when we sold my mom's house and have kept them safe ever since. But I had never taken the time to actually look at them.
My project now is not only to read them but also to type them into the computer so they will be safe for posterity. I suppose I actually COULD scan them and do OCR (almost all of them were typed -- after all, my mom had been a typing teacher!). But it seems more interesting to type them in myself.
They were already sorted into years, but not necessarily WITHIN each year. So, I have started with 1951, the first year. I began by sorting the letters from that year by date, and now I am typing them in, one by one.
The "voice" in the letters is very much that of my mom as I always knew and loved her. She is always very positive about everything and everyone. But she's no Pollyanna. After all, when these letters were written, she was still recovering from the terrible car accident in which she had broken BOTH her legs (the UPPER parts!). She was walking by this time (something the doctors had early on thought she might NEVER do again), but she still had pain in her legs, and she still used crutches some of the time. These facts come up from time to time, but the tone of the letters is utterly positive. Of course, the fact that she was also a newlywed helped. She also had the most wonderful things to say about my dad, and I know from my own experience growing up with both of them that she was right. The man she describes is exactly like the dad I knew, as well, always helping with the work, and always completely supportive of mom.
Already the things she talks about are interesting, and I even knew some of the people she mentions. But it should get REALLY interesting when I get to the parts for which I was actually present. Naturally, I don't remember too many things from the 50's, but I may find that I'll remember some of them, and I'll get a LOT of fill-in about my own early childhood. It should be interesting!
So, stay tuned, and I'll try to post again from time to time about this project. Perhaps I'll even share a few quotes from my mom. If she were writing now, in the early 21st century, she'd probably be doing a blog, too!
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2 comments:
what a fantastic project for learning about your mom & your early childhood together. my mother kept diaries for most of her adult life, but she was not such a positive person and most of them are such litanies of complaints [often about my father] that I won't read them. big difference between letters and diaries.
what a fantastic project for learning about your mom & your early childhood together. my mother kept diaries for most of her adult life, but she was not such a positive person and most of them are such litanies of complaints [often about my father] that I won't read them. big difference between letters and diaries.
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