Letter to My Parents

 It's Tuesday, time for Poetics in the dVerse Poets Pub! Punam has us taking up pen and paper to write an old fashioned letter [poem.]

Dearest Mother and Daddy, where do I begin? Perhaps with this postcard I found recently ~ dated 1939.

From the stories I've heard 'round many a dining room table, meals long past. Beginning with Mom and Pong who separated the two of you early on - attempting to thwart you from "becoming too serious." Mother [only 17] you were sent to Doniphan Missouri where your grandparents lived. Daddy, you [at 28] stayed stuck in Caseyville Illinois, pining away. 

Horror of Horrors!! An older man! Daddy, you sent postcards and telegrams begging Mother to come back. Mother, you returned within the month by train. Love prevailed, and Daddy, you were there to fetch her from Union Station in St. Louis. I can only imagine that sweet reunion. 

Precious Daddy, when you died on May 4th of 1958, I was 16 going on 17. You were turning 46 that autumn. It was sudden and it was shocking ~ life altering. I was too young to know about grief, could not have known how to process it. My sisters as well. Mother, you were left with three daughters to raise ~ and alone. I will never know how you managed it! Two teenage girls, the third fast approaching puberty. Good grief! Actually, Mother ~ I retract that last statement. As the years passed I learned about a strength and grace that people only dream of having. 

Daddy ~ you would be thrilled to know I inherited a bit of your amazing musical talent. Your flair for the theatrical. My ability to "fix" things like vacuums, toasters and sewing machines [when I put my mind to it.] I remember the story about how you "fashioned" a solar shower in the yard of your childhood home. A large tank, garden hose, shower head ~ letting the sun do its thing ~ using it after a day of hard work, a clean-up before entering the house. Dare I point out Daddy ~ no one in Caseyville could have fathomed [or fashioned] something quite like that! 

Dearest Mother ~ you raised us beautifully, fearlessly. You adored and supported 'Your Girls' every step of our lives. You sewed so many of our beautiful dresses, canned fruits and veggies, inspired us in so many, many ways ~ too numerous to list! So many stories! Your brother Billy teaching you to drive.  Daddy had been our "chauffeur-in-chief" ~ you never had to learn. I remember our "three on the tree" green '51 chevy ~ rolling backward down Famous Barr's circular parking garage! Who could forget how you managed to maneuver the car sideways in our narrow driveway? We were fortunate you had taken a "first ever job" shortly before Daddy died [needed the extra income as we were building our dream home] otherwise our future might not have been as rosy.  

I am old now, in my 80s, left with photos, stories, memories ~ regretting all the "I love you's" we left behind. The laughter, hugs, tears. How I never had the opportunity to know Daddy as an adult .. with children of my own. Grandchildren who he would have regaled with his stories and history, with a few musical number thrown in for good measure .. four sweet children, adored and spoiled ~ no doubt. 

Dear Parents, I must close this letter for now, I will write again .. there is much left to say. 

circling the sun

for all of eternity

blessings surround us