A Found Letter

In the process of cleaning up the family history room, I found this gem.  It is a letter written to me at BYU from my youngest brother, Scott who would have been about 7 at the time.

It reads:  "Dear Judy I wish you wood come home soon and see our cat. Again it is a girl if you did not know it but it is APRIL AND. YOU said that you wood bee back in APRIL anyway so I Hope you get home in time to see that our cat have babys. IF IT does I think it will be a boy first, A girl next and I Hope when you get home some cherries will grow. ON the cherry tree  I think you know where it is but if you don,t know it is in the back yard but I think you know That they will grow in the backyard so that,s all so goodbye        love scott"   I loved it so much.  It reminded me of being a college student.  I can remember the apartment that I was living in then and I am sure that I was so happy to get a letter from Scott near the end of the semester when things tend to get overwhelming

I also remembered how hard it was on my little brothers when I left for college a few years before in 1973.  I was so excited to get accepted and to go to BYU, that it really never occured to me that it would really have much of an impact on my siblings.  A few weeks after I left, my mother wrote me the following story about Rick, my second youngest brother:  He had been asked to draw a picture in his Primary class of his family.  As the students were working on their pictures, the teacher was walking around the room and she noticed that Rick would cover up part of his picture every time she looked at it.  She (Sis. Judy Massey) asked Rick why.  He uncovered the picture and she saw that he had drawn me.  He quickly said, "I know that she does not live with us any more but my mom said she is still in our family." He was only six and didn't yet understand the whole ins and outs of families. How sweet was that!

I have a sweet memory from Scott as well:  When I got home from BYU for Christmas break my freshman year, Scott was thrilled and would often talk about how I was back from college.  I finally commented to my mom that I thought that Scott was thinking college was a one semester thing.  She agreed.  A few hours later, Scott made a comment again about me being home from college and I said, "Scott you know that I am going back to college after Christmas, right?"  In a very sad voice, he said, "Yes. Mom told me."  He was so disappointed and I felt so loved.

I don't actually remember the day I got the above letter from Scott, but reading it again yesterday reminded me of all of those things and once again, like I am sure I felt on that day in April 1976, I felt loved by my brother, Scott, and by each of my siblings.

So, of course, I took a photo to text it to him.  That is an amazing invention that we did not consider possible in 1976--I can reach out and communicate with my siblings any time day or night........but as I read this letter again and experience all of the memories they bring to me, I wonder if as we text, twitter, and Facebook, are we going to miss out on some of these things in the future?

And, Scott G., I am not sure if I ever told you thank you or not, but thanks for the letter, It means the world to me today!