Love, Mom XXOO

#Writehere prompt: A Hallmark moment

For a decade in the 1990s, I went to the Penland Craft School the last week of August, to take a week-long workshop in printmaking, painting, photography, or paper making. Check-in was Sunday afternoon. One year, I had mail waiting for me, a wonderful surprise: a card from Mom.

Hi sweetheart —
Hope you got there safe and sound
Now’s the time to lay around
Have some fun, eat a lot
Hope the weather’s not too hot.
Love Mom xxoo

Each day, another card arrived. Another ditty. Each one written in her own hand, despite vision severely impaired by macular degeneration. Even so, her handwriting was more readable than mine has ever been, a small family scandal — a writer, then artist, with illegible handwriting?

Mom knew that as much as I loved my art camp get-aways, I also felt out of sorts and “homesick” for my own bed. So, every night, she composed a poem. Every morning, my Dad handed off the card to their mailman. And every time I checked the student mailboxes, I got a warm hug. The last one:

Life is what you make it be
Adventure for one — dreary for some
But just you wait & see
The best is yet to come
Love You, Mom, xxoo

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