Dear Rina,
My daughter plays point guard for Haslett High School and all my other children include half of her basketball team! They are a great group of girls and a lot of them have been playing ball together since 2nd grade.
One night “my children” decided that they were having a sleep over. That night, I wrote a poem entitled "Night Bird". I remember telling my daughter that was fine to have the sleepover but that my poem was due for my online writing class in 3 hours and that the computer was mine until it was finished! It was actually pretty funny…I wrote.. they watched movies, ate popcorn and they were my first critics of "Night Bird".
Later I thought back on that night and about the modeling that went on from that night.
I remember the JV team reading “Night Bird” and they were telling
my daughter that it good, me being panicked at trying to attach it to the right digital drop box for my writing class and everybody cheering when it was sent successfully!
I told the girls that I am like a "Night Bird"…I write late at night and I study late at night as that is when its quiet or should I say quieter!. Later at the end of the girls basketball season…at the night of their basketball banquet each girl on the team had made the Coach a card with their team photo, inside the card each girl had written a note to the Coach telling him what they had learned from him that season and what they meant to him. He talked with me later and he said that was the most precious gift that he had ever received…to have the girls write down their words moved him and myself to tears.
My first Christmas after my Dad passed was really hard. I wrote him a letter and I told him how much he meant to me and what an awesome Dad that he was. My Dad was in a coma for 76 days and then he died….during that time I pretty much lived at the hospital but I am so thankful that I was able to be there and for all the time that we had together. That Christmas both my daughters asked me what I wanted for Christmas… I told them that I wanted them to write me a letter and tell me something special about me, about themselves, that they would want to share with me. My gifts for my birthday, holidays, just because gifts are all writings to me and I treasure each and every one of them.
I think that would be the most awesome Christmas present for you this year if your children and your husband would write special letters to you. You will cherish their letters and you will also draw strength from them. You are a very strong person, you are a survivor, you are an encourager and you surround yourself with those people and things that bring you joy and happiness. There have also been many nights when things couldn’t be more muddier or darker that I have turned to these letters over and over again… and they have given me hope and the strength to keep on flying high…
Nancy Allen
Haslett, MI
Dear Nancy,
I thought your idea was wonderful. I’m not too big on the over commercialization of Christmas and often suggest that people write handwritten letters. I especially suggest it for people who are estranged from family members or for parents who can’t see their children. I suggest that parents who are in tense relationships that involve children that they are unable to see to write letters as well. They should save them in an acid free box.
Eventually the children will grow up into adults. Children who grow up with questions need answers, so if the person starts writing letters now they will have something to give to their child or family member when they are ready. If you don’t start now or as soon as possible, it will be difficult to make them believe that you were with them all the time. It is an inexpensive way to deal with issues. Imagine being estranged from your father for 20 years and you receive a box of letters dated from years back. Questions to answers about relationships are some times never answered by older family members. Secrets are taken to the grave more often than not. Tell your side of the story through a letter it will help another person answer their questions and will probably help alleviate some of their bitterness.
Rina