Every other year I plan a long weekend trip with my kids to a resort a few hours away. I rent a big house and we all stay there- Just the adults go and we play games, visit, have a themed party and visit. This year, I was fortunate to bring my cousin, who I haven't seen since my brother's funeral 27 years ago. What a treat that was. It was like time stood still and we were kids again as we caught up with each other's lives. My kids loved her and her husband.
The trip was a huge success, everyone had a great time!
But the REAL treat happened after we got home.
My cousin had one extra night here before her flight- so we went through my parents old photos. We reminisced and since she is a few years older and remembered a little more, I learned a little more about my relatives. Such fun.
I was looking for one specific picture to give to her- the picture had her mom and dad in it- and she has very few of those since her parents divorced when she was fairly young.
I couldn't find it...so I was searching through everything. My mom had stored an old latch hook rug that I made for my dad when I was 17 in a pillow case. I had assumed that was all that was in the pillow case and had never pulled it out. BOY was I wrong.
When I pulled out the rug, out fell some amazing treasures. A pair of my brothers cowboy boots that he wore as a small boy, an old Italian wool suit of my moms- a beautiful lace dress that looked like a prom dress from the 50s.....and a box.
The box was very pretty, very 50s. Inside, 16 love letters that my dad wrote to my mom in 1957 when my dad was 24 and my mom only 19 - all in perfect condition- they had been carefully opened and stored- WOW. My dad was living with my cousins parents when he wrote the letters, so as we read them, we each learned a little more about our parents. It was such an amazing find.
The letters ended about the time my mom and dad were married and later that year, they welcomed my brother who was 3 months premature.
I feel like we were meant to find that wonderful treasure together. It was an incredible end to a wonderful reunion. And I now have some new family heirlooms to pass on to the next generations some day.
An unexpected gift
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