“Letters from Mom”

Mom wrote me hundreds of letters and would often send me greeting cards with snipped comics or articles from newspapers or magazines she thought I'd enjoy.

At some point near the end of ’08 I asked mom to start writing me a letter every day. She had been living alone for a long time and I guess I just wanted her to exercise her brain a little; I was a little concerned about her mental health but mostly I was just hoping she’d stop being so sad about the death of her mother (Nana) and thought maybe writing would help a little.

Spoiler: It didn’t.

November 30, 08
Dear David,
It’s a little hard to write a letter every day, but I’m trying. Are you compiling the works of Kathie Gagne, or do you just want to know what’s going on in my life?

We got the Doak downpour today, and it’s heading for U        ’s. It was raining so hard this morning that you couldn’t see anything — not unusual for Florida, I guess. I skipped church. I’ve been sleeping on my bed (Ugh! really uncomfortable!!!) I pretty much hated it from the first day I got it. I always wake up achy, and I’ve tried a couple of things to make it better.

I went to Publix, and I thought about Nana coming with me a couple of times. Her back always hurt going over speed bumps, and the ones at Publix are awful. Every time we went over one, she would say, “oooh, oooh! I remembered that today and cried almost all the way home.

Right now, I’m watching Lord of the Rings and waiting for the BCS rankings. I’d love it if you called me and let me know.

By the way, can you tell me why you want all these letters? Are you missing me (heh), or is there something else going on.

I can’t wait to see you when you come for the Superbowl! I’ll clean out Jen’s room just for you.

So, when are you going to write me some letters…?

Love,
Mom

  • The “Doak downpour” she mentioned was the torrential rainstorm that had hit the Florida @ Florida State game the night before she wrote this letter; this was the infamous Tebow “bloody jersey” game.
  • I had gone to the Super Bowl in Arizona the previous year and she had expected me to be at the upcoming one in Tampa, but I did not go.