“Tried to summon all that my heart finds true
And send it in my letter to you”
The words of Bruce Springsteen in LETTER TO YOU
Eight years back, when we were going through Mum’s house we came across a letter. Not to us, but still a letter. A decades old letter that indicated Dad had been married and divorced before he met Mum. We had no idea. Without finding that letter we would never have found out. I can imagine asking Mum …..
Why didn’t you or Dad mention this small fact…..
And I can already hear Mum’s response ‘Well you never asked dear, now go and put the kettle on, there is an old Clark Gable movie starting on the telly in a couple of minutes…..”
A friend in the village once told me that after his partner died he found a LETTER. A beautiful letter from his partner which talked about unbreakable love, wonderful times, happy memories and the best of times. The letter also talked about starting again, finding happiness, living life and maybe love again.
Definitely summoning all that my heart finds true.
I found a LETTER TO ME. With trepidation I opened the letter addressed to me. Not from the end but from a few years back. My partner liked to go on overseas solo adventures and I guess before every trip she wrote a letter just in case the worst happened. One of those letters had become hidden in other stuff and had become long forgotten.
I didn’t find too many expressions of love, no heartfelt messages. This LETTER TO ME basically reminded me to
- Inform X,Y and Z.
- To stop her Accountancy Subscription Fees.
- Cancel her hair and dentist appointments.
- To check her clothes pockets before I take them to the charity shop.
- Make sure I clean her car out properly before I sell it.
- Don’t forget to paint the front door.
- Remember to put the bins out on a Tuesday…..
Not sure that’s the kind of thing Bruce was writing about in his song.
A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. 
That’s still a letter of love. What a treasure to find.
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it is a treasure
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The things that people most worry about!.
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it’s bizarre isn’t it
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Practical comes to mind and knowing her partner 😉
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she was definitely that
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Oh, I find that utterly beautiful. A letter from the reality of a shared life. I never wrote such letters when I went away from family as I don’t believe I was thinking about the worst. My late sister liked to remind me who I should contact if the worst happened to her on a trip — her lawyer and friend, who had written her will. When she got glioblastoma, there was plenty of warning for her lawyer and for all of us hoping against hope until the end.
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sending you hugs. I hope you still have so many wonderful memories of your sister.
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It’s not that I don’t think of dying — I actually think about it all the time — but those around me will know I’m gone, and very few of them need to be told. No songs of love to anyone, my partner will want to grieve in her own way if she survives me.
The letter I did write — well, more of a post — is to my Word Press friends. If I suddenly disappear from WP I want them to know I am gone. The thing is, my partner knows nothing about how to Word Press, though I wrote the instructions out tor her, but will she remember to look for them? If not, please forgive her. I tried…
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maybe a WP AI bolt on that declares Elvis has left the building might be the way forward
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Oh my, a proper letter… hardly ever use those now.
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I have one friend who still sends letters, it’s the only time I send them now.
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Oh I love your wife. That is the sort of letter I’d leave. My kids always say that I would lie on my death bed giving them a list of instructions. Yes I think I would have got on well with your wife. Hugs Xx
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she was really practical, hugs to you as well ❤️
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She clearly expected life to go on
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she did, the irony was that after all the planning, when the end came, she didn’t get a chance to plan this time.
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But it is still a treasure.
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definitely is my friend ❤️
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But very practical. I keep a book in my drawer that says on the cover: I’m Dead. Now What. It is full of very useful information that is so valuable to whoever is left.
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I like that idea
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I love a letter. After my grandmother died we found all sorts of things tucked into her office drawers. I can lose an hour reading through faded letters from relatives I’ve never met, even the boring conversation about whatever random thing happened that week feel special in a letter from years ago.
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we found a box of old family letters, but the names are faded so we don’t know who wrote them. They tell so much yet so much stays a mystery. They are wonderful to read. ❤️
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She was a very practical person! 😀
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she definitely was
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I had a bit of a chuckle at the contents of the letter, Gary. Such pragmatic things that our loved ones tend to worry about. But nonetheless, I bet these words are so treasured as well as they connect the different moments of time into a thread. You really want me to do a deep dive into Springsteen now!
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the funny thing is deep down, I knew it would be like that. ❤️
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Aww! I am sure that even though it wasn’t sentimental that you it was still special to find. ❤
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yes it was ❤️
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I always want to write a letter like this before my every travel but it’s hard to find courage.
Ah! the uncertainity of life.
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it’s good planning
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Hugs…
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thank you ❤️
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