my brother and I taken by my uncle who was a keen amateur photographer
do you like my petticoat?
a lovely old leather bag - what did it contain?
my mother's 21st birthday telegram sent by my father in 1946, four days before they married
lots of sheets of paper carefully folded, some in envelopes
a tiny handwritten card which perhaps accompanied flowers
As I leafed through these papers, some on writing paper, order forms, invoices and scraps of paper, it became obvious to me that they were love letters written by my father. I had mixed feelings about reading them as I felt they were not meant for my eyes so I read only one. I told one of my closest friends about my discovery and she suggested I take them to my mother and read them aloud to her. I am thinking about it, but whatever happens I shall treasure them as a little piece of family history.
My aunt Margaret remembers my father wrote to my mother often in the weeks before their marriage. They were together for over fifty years....
I shall leave you with my favourite ted x
Jayne x
Maybe I'm impulsive, but I think I would take a few of those letters & read them to your mother. I would have loved to have done this, if in a similar position. Your post made me very nostalgic - my dear mother was 21 in 1946 too!
ReplyDeleteOn reflection I have decided to take them to her and I will ask if she wants me to read them. What a coincidence about 1946 - your mother's 21st year too. Thank you for your opinion nilly, I appreciate it. jaynex
DeleteLovely photographs of you and your sweet teddy. You could take inspiration from some of those old papers, the hand written and typed fonts are lovely. Tracy :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you Tracy, I am thinking of somehow incorporating tiny elements into some future work, perhaps some little pictures. My father had beautiful handwriting and I love old invoices, forms, as you say the fonts are lovely. Jayne x
DeleteYou must have been both happy and sad sifting through your mums things but how lovely that she's hung onto all those precious things, maybe you could make a sort of album with them for future generations to enjoy. Keep smiling it keeps the tears away, Lucey x
ReplyDeleteThank you Lucy for your comments, it was very bittersweet. My mother is not a sentimental person so it was all the more poignant because of that. As nilly suggests I have decided to take them to show her and see her reaction. An album is a good idea, thanks. jayne x
DeleteRead the letters Jayne, you and your brother are the living, breathing legacy of that love affair.
ReplyDeleteLLX
Thanks LL you made me think of it from another perspective, as nilly suggests I am going to take them to my mother and see her reaction. I will read them all. It is so lovely for him to have written so beautifully to her, and for her to have received them and kept them for over sixty years. jayne
DeleteJayne, what an absolutely beautiful account of finding all those treasures in your mother's home. It's lovely to see those photographs of you as a child too. I think it would be really special to show your mother those letters and see her reaction to them, also the photographs. As you know my mam loved to look at photos of her family long after she was actually (or so we thought, but who knows !!) able to recognise who they were. It is certainly a bitter sweet time for you but I am sure you will negotiate it with strength and integrity. love gill xx
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely comment you have written Gill. I am sure your mam enjoyed looking at the photos of all of you. I am a lucky girl to have such lovely friends to help me on my way. jayne x
DeleteSuch a lovely post Jayne,very touching.
ReplyDeleteThank you Christine I wasn't sure whether to share finding the letters but I am glad I did. jayne x
DeleteDear Jayne, how wonderful for you to find them and discover the beautiful words your father has written. My feeling is you were meant to discover them intuitively you know how to proceed.
ReplyDeleteMuch love. Tx
Thank you Therese for your lovely words, I do consider myself lucky to have found these treasured letters. I do also think I was meant to be the custodian of such precious letters. love jayne x
DeleteHello Jayne, gosh what a roller coaster of emotions you must be going through. In some ways happy and so many sad. I agree with LL, I think if it were me, when I am old, I would love for my daughter to bring me those letters, and sit and read to me. I am a sentimental thing though! I think you will be able to see if she is happy for you to do so. I wish you much courage as I know how incredible hard it must be. also sending you a hug :-)
ReplyDeleteLove sophie xx
P.S do you still have Ted? xx I love the photos x
ReplyDeleteHi, Sophie your words made me cry but in a nice way! I am also a very sentimental person. I am going to take them to show her and see her reaction. I too would love my daughter to bring them to me. I am so touched by everyone's comments to this post. It is a very hard thing to do emptying a home especially when you come upon lots of unexpected treasures. I no longer have ted unfortunately. I have lots and lots of photographs and my grandmother's diary from a trip to New Zealand over six months when she was 70yrs old - she received three proposals on that trip. That will be another post I think! Thank you that was a lovely hug you sent. jayne x
ReplyDeleteArhhhh jayneboy, I thought this was a beautiful post and you gave me a tear in my eye. love u lots and glad u found those lovely letters. Take them to you mam and read them together.x
ReplyDeletelovely photographs its weird how we find little things like this,work with them it will be fab xxxx Cheryll.x
Thanks mez, I have had some lovely comments about this post, I am going to show and read the letters to her. jayneboy xx
ReplyDeleteOh such a touchingly bittersweet post. The wonderful thing about love is that it remains whether the letters are read or not,whether memories are remembered or not...love touches lives and remains somewhere inside :)Well thats what I believe anyway! :)
ReplyDeleteI adore the photos of you,your brother and of course sweet ted. Delightful! :)x
Thank you Jenny what lovely words you have written and how true, I never looked at it that way. I will let you know how it develops. I am really touched at the response to this post as I was unsure whether to publish it or not. thanks again. Those photos are so cute aren't they. I have found the wedding photo which I will put in my next post. jayne x
DeleteWhat treasured finds! how special that you have been able to see, first hand, your Mum and Dad as two youngsters in love and be able to save such beautiful momentos for the future - the photos of you and your brother are lovely too.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your comments, it really means a lot to me. I too am happy but sad at the same time, it has made me realise how quickly time passes and that we have to make the most of each and every day. My father wrote so beautifully about my mother, since writing this post and having people's reactions I have read more letters and they truly are wonderful. I am taking them, together with many photographs of my mother's young life to show her. I will let you all know her reaction. p.s. just visited your blog, it is lovely, will read your older posts another time, it's late and I need to sleep. night night jayne x
DeleteHello again Jayne
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing post on your blog. The photographs are so beautiful and for you to have shared those things, papers etc is very generous. It opens the door to a time when letters were the usual way to communicate and so, so much better than what we have now.
How much better it is to receive a handwritten letter from the person you love, rather than what we have now .... text, email, voice mail. It's no comparison is it.
I remember my Mum telling me that she used to sometimes receive two letters a day from my Dad, because there were two deliveries. I don't think it's simply nostalgia, but there really were some things that were so much better then ... slower, but better.
I think it would be fine to read them too and how wonderful that your Mum has kept them all these years. I bet she would love to hear them read to her.
Karen xx