Massachusetts | LOVE IN BLOOM BLOG

If we can be generous with our hearts, ourselves, we have no idea of the depth and breadth of love’s reach. Our Nana was a generous woman with a big heart not just to her family but to all kinds of people, even people she didn’t know.

She did nice things without expecting anything back. Nana was especially good at baking and she made the best chocolate chipcookies in the world.

One of the best things about Nana was that she loved people and they loved her back. Friends and family knew they could stop by and see her anytime and Nana would always welcome them. Everyone in her family depended on Nana to keep them up with the latest birth or who got married in the neighborhood (in the old neighborhood) as my dad use to say. They grew up in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Now Nana’s not here to tell us what’s going on, or to bake those favorite things she was so good at making. Nana passed away a few years and my cousin found this poem and we realized that it describes how we felt about our Nana. It’s called “Nana’s Hands.”

Nana’s Hands used to touch us with. Nana’s hands would scold us and sit us down in a chair. Nana’s hands would applaud us when we did something good. Nana’s hands would hold us every chance they could. Nana’s hands would aid us when we fell down. Nana”s hands, Yes I miss them, they were the best hands around. Nana’s hands would spank us and she would say, “Now, Baby, you act right.” Nana’s hands would stroke us and tuck us in at night. Nana’s hands would pray for us, they would pray for everyone she knew. Nana’s hands would rise in the air as in God she put her trust. Nana’s hands were special; they were the very best. Nana’s hands got tired, and now they are at rest.

We thought a lot about the last line of that poem it taught us that it can be hard to lose people we love but it can sometimes be for the better too. When Nana got sick we felt bad for her when we realized she couldn’t do things she loved anymore and she was in pain. At least we knew that she didn’t hurt anymore.

We also realized that we never thought about how things would change once Nana was gone. Losing someone you love can definitely help us appreciate the people who are special to us while we still have them in our lives.

Writing letters can be a lot of fun. When we write a letter to a friend or a relative, it’s called a friendly letter. A friendly letter (or informal letter) is a way of communicating between two people. Who are usually well acquainted.

There are many uses and reason’s for writing a friendly letter and friendly letters will usually consist of a topic on a personal level. Friendly letters can be printed or hand-written. Hand written letters are known for many reasons such as a “The Dear John” letter or a “ The Love Letter.”

I grew up in the fifties and sixties when letters were written. Writing and mailing a letter, post card or a holiday card was the only way I could connect with my long distant friends and family. Sometimes I would type a letter but most of the time they were hand written. I liked the personal touch. I wasn’t allowed to make long distance calls unless I could pay for them. So, the price of a stamp it was. Except on special occasions I could pick one person to call for a few minutes.

The first hand written letter that I received was from my grandmother. She lived in Massachusetts and I lived in California. Being a long distant grandmother was definitely a challenge for her but lucky me she was creative a writer and her letters made reading and writing fun for me. I always looked forward to receiving her letters because she had a way of sparking my imagination. Who doesn’t enjoy having their imagination sparked? It’s because of our letter writing that we managed to maintained a close relationship.

The letters from my grandmother have become part of my favorite keepsakes. I read them and re-read the letters over and over. It seems like I have read them a million times but that would be an exaggeration.

My grandmother was a busy woman and she still managed to write letters to all fourteen of her grandchildren. She worked as a school teacher for over thirty years. She was known as Nana to fourteen grandchildren. She was happily married for over sixty years and the mother of four children. My grandfather wrote a love letters to her on each of their wedding anniversaries. She out lived him by two years and she kept every letter that he had written to her. How romantic is that? When I think about how wonderful those letters are I wish we still wrote letters today.