Penmanship Old and New

My mother found something when she was going through things recently.   It was a letter written to me by my father's mother.  We're not sure when she wrote it but we can make a reasonable guess from some clues included.

My grandmother grew up in the great depression and the need to save, reuse and repurpose never left her.   Anything she ever wrote was on the back of paper used for another thing.   In this case, the backside of the hand-written letter to me was a typed mailing to my grandmother's sister, dating back to 1979.   The letter was requesting support for what appears to be the predecessor to or something similar to the Girls and Boys clubs of today.

My grandmother speaks of something in the note that sounds to me like a pipe cleaner figure she made and collapsed to fit into an envelope that I was to open out and place on the piano to listen to me as I practiced (I took piano lessons for many years).   Based on the tone of the letter, I would guess she wrote it not too long after 1979.

I recognize the handwriting as my grandmother's and could have told you it was her from a distance.  She died some years ago, but she was an important part of my young life just as my parents and in-laws are an important part of my children's lives.   I wonder if they will recognize Mimi and Nana's handwriting years from now when they're adults?



The second part of this penmanship post is about my daughter's writing.   He vision is as minimal as it's ever been and yet her writing has actually improved over the past year.   She's never stopped wanting to write, but for a long time her letters and lines would overlap badly and her characters were mostly unrecognizable.

She's blind, but she wants to be part of a sighted world.  She made this valentine's card for her brother.   Saying on the first side this about his trip, "hope you had a great time!"  She taped two quarters for eyes and some Hershey's kisses for the mouth (which my son has eaten.). On the back she wrote, "Happy Valentine's Day Love Reese XOXO Gray Gray"

 



The Big Boy Update:  My son learned a new word recently.   And you know how it is when children learn a new word and discover the word has a meaning not accepted in general conversation, right?  Yes, that means they use it whenever they can.   We were at dinner on my birthday, sitting around the table talking with my parents.   My mother said, "Do you know what happened fifty years ago today?"  My son said, "Today is the day fifty years ago that you pumped this girl out of your anus.  No?"

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  I mentioned I was going to try and get a picture of my daughter's right eye.   She says she can see some light now, which is changed from before (she thinks) but even if she has light perception, there is massive scar tissue covering the internals of her eye and she can't see out.   This is the best I could get picture-wise.   She was trying, but she doesn't use the eye much and bringing it to face forward is something she doesn't do easily.