Dear Sweetheart,
Right now, your name is unknown.
I don’t know what makes you laugh until your belly hurts, what you dream about when you close your eyes, or whether you like chocolate chip cookies better warm from the oven or straight from the jar. Your favorite color I will learn later, as well as what you’re afraid of, and what you hope to be someday.
These are very hard things to admit for a grandmother.
Somewhere along the way, a chapter of our story was written without me in it. Circumstances, choices, misunderstandings, and things beyond my control have placed a hard barrier between us. Maybe someday I’ll understand why.
But I have learned something about love.
Love doesn’t stop simply because you can’t reach the person you’re loving. Love only grows. Any now I find, the love that exists between you and me, that had nowhere to go, has finally found a place.
Your Grandmother’s Love
My darling, let me tell you something about your grandmother’s love. With your absence, my love for you has grown so exponentially that now it encompasses everyone without a Grandma to call their own.
For every little one who has ever wondered what it would feel like to have a grandmother say, “I’m proud of you.”
If you’re a child needing someone to sit beside you and listen, to just be nearby, I’m here.
For the teenager who needs to hear, “You don’t have to have your whole life figured out yet.”
If you’re a young adult who needs someone to remind them that making mistakes doesn’t make you a failure. I hear you.
For everyone…
I see you. You matter!
You always have. So very much!
Perhaps I cannot be the grandmother sitting beside you at the kitchen table. I cannot reach across the room and tuck your hair behind your ear, slip a little money into your hand and tell you not to tell your parents, or give you one of those hugs that somehow makes everything feel a little less frightening.
Whatever brought you here, I hope you stay awhile.
Pull up a chair. I have something to say.
Something of incredible value that will add to your life, make it less chaotic which will help guide you through all of life’s challenges that generations before you have already faced. A personal letter to you, from me, for anyone who needs encouragement, wisdom, love, and a little reminder that you matter.
Stories. Lessons, Mistakes, Failures, Victories, Challenges, Laughter, Encouragements, Interpretations of the World around us…..
All of it……in little pages.
I love you my darling. Forever and always.
Until next time.
Your Grandma
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