Love, Mother

I went away to college in 1976. I was graduated from high school in 1975 but spent my freshman year living at home and attending the local community college. My mom wrote letters (yes, actual paper letters!) to me at school several times a week, starting the day after she and my sister dropped me off at the dorm. I was the last of her six children to leave home and I guess it came as quite a life-changing experience. 

I saved most of the letters. When Shelly Pagliai started her Hazel's Diary blog I thought about including my mom's letters in my blog and now, only TEN years later, I'm actually doing it. Where did the last ten years go? So much has changed in that time.

Anyway, here we go with her first letter to me.

August 25, 1976

Dear Robin,

Wednesday

We left the motel this morning about seven - had some coffee and toast - then got the car gassed and we got to Lisa's about four thirty. We made a gas stop in San Angelo and we stopped in Mason - first at the Dairy Queen and then at the watermelon stand. The man said the melons were grown around there but the one I got didn't have the same taste I remembered. Then we went to the cemetery. I didn't have any trouble finding the graves. The Wood lot, which is enclosed in an ornamental iron fence, was overgrown with weeds. I hope to go back there when it gets cooler and clean it.

The animals were glad to see me and rewarded me by finishing off that grasshopper that they had already eaten on. I think they did it while I was asleep. After Nora and Lolly left I sat down to look at the paper and as you know I went to sleep. I didn't sleep much at the motel.

I hope you had an exciting day and didn't have too much trouble getting around.

Thursday

You won't believe that I slept until almost 7 o'clock this morning. I had to water all my plants then Lisa called. We went to a place called Gardendale. It's on a road off Nacogdoches way out near where that new bridge is. It is a vegetable farm and sort of health food store and they also have some herbs. Lisa wanted some okra to pickle but they didn't have any. Her friend MJ went with us and she suggested we go to that herb farm at Helotes. It is an interesting place. I didn't buy anything at either place. After her car stopped at an antique store we had a barbeque sandwich in Helotes. She had to restrain her car from stopping at some more antique shops but it was getting late and she had to get home before Karly. I guess we will have to go back again.

I'm very anxious to hear all about what you are doing.

Good luck tomorrow.

Love,

Mother

I recently finished this crazy quilt (à la Brian Haggard) using pictures I took when Dave and I visited the cemetery Mom talks about in her letter. The big picture is not actually the Wood lot, I just liked that big tree. The three pictures at the bottom of the quilt are from family headstones. The gate below is my depiction in embroidery of the gate of the Wood lot.