Love Letters from Long Ago

There is a letter, undated, to my mother.

My aunt, mother and grandmother

I can narrow it down to 1929-1930, the time my grandmother was in a sanatorium fighting tuberculosis. She lost her battle in June of 1930. This would put my mother's age at the time at either three or four.

Here is what the letter says:

Dear Little Mary Rose,

I wonder how you are? Are you Daddy's little lady? I know you are. You love Mother, too, don't you?

Mother is trying to get well so she can come home to you. Then we will have a time, won't we?

Come up and see Mother when you can. Did you like the paper dolls? 

I must go to bed now, or the nurse will come and scold me. 

Good night, sweetie. I send lots of kisses and hugs.

From Mother

There is so much love and longing in this letter, I wanted to cry. (Okay, maybe I did).

The fact this letter still exists, in my mind, is nothing short of miraculous.

After my grandmother died, my mother and her four siblings were raised by my grandfather, who had help from relatives and neighbors, until my grandfather remarried in 1932.

Someone had to vouchsafe this and the other correspondence, as well as the photographs. Was it my grandfather?

It makes me wonder what will become of our legacy in the hands of the next generation. Will they be as careful to preserve these windows into our souls?

We are such a disposable society. We trust that technology will keep a permanent record of our doings. But as technology becomes outdated and replaced, isn't a fair amount of it lost to old electronic methods of preservation? Is it really better than these nearly 100-year-old letters I'm holding in my hand?

Time will tell. It always does, I suppose.