Letter to a Friend

 TO MANDILYN ZEHNA:

[I have been trying to write this email for a week!  Good grief - life be lifin'!]

I read your lovely post today about your sweet grandma - and reveled in all the pictures about you doing her hair.  I'm so very sorry for your loss.  

What a gift to have a grandma for so long.  I lost 3/4 grandparents before I graduated high school and wish I could have a Bible study with my Grandma Gummerson, sit on my Grandpa Gummerson's lap and walk hand in hand with my Grandpa Martin to the gas station that sold penny candy [I got 100 gummy berries (that I have yet to find again, but swedish fish come close to the taste)].  And I really miss teasing my Grandma Martin about going on a date with Travis's Grandpa Jones as they were in the same assisted living center [She vehemently refused as she already had the love of her life, and "don't you dare give him my number!" even though they saw each other daily].  I'm so grateful that your kiddos got to know her, too. It's precious to have the link to history and family be so strong!

And, would you know it, I will also be buried in Cedar Rest cemetery in Almo, Idaho.  A few years ago, Travis was in Burley at his parent's house and when we were talking on the phone he said, "I bought us a burial plot in Almo for $100."  I said, "Cool."  He knows that because of my faith nowhere feels like home, and I've never cared where I'd be buried.  He told me that my mother-in-law, Shelley, insisted that he call me and ask before he did it and he said, "Trust me, she won't care."  She called me a few days later and asked if I was sure.  I said that I didn't care, and I heard Travis in the background say "I told you so!"

I saw the letter that came from the lighthouse.  Could you even IMAGINE finding something like that?  Unreal.  I'm with them - that handwriting!  While I love me some new technology, I'm a sucker for paper and pen.  I'm learning calligraphy.  It's SO fun!!  

I just finished re-reading Anne of Green Gables (well, I had Rachel McAdams read it to me on my Audible app) again.  I hadn't read it since grade school when YOU told me about it.  I love all the movies, and Anne with an E on Netflix was a true joy to watch.  No where near comes close to the originals, but brought it to life again anyway.  My core group of girlfriends are planning a trip in summer 2026 to Prince Edward Island.  To immerse ourselves in ALL things Anne of Green Gables.  I know it's far away, but as a fellow enneagram 7, having things to plan and look forward to is my jam!  Plus, jobs, budget, vacay, kids and babysitters, etc....need some extra time.  

My favorite part of your Christmas corner is the needlepoint JOY.  Remember that when I see you next summer.

Always,

La

p.s.  speaking of new technologies- i asked ChatGPT to write the above in the style of Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery and just look at this gem:

Oh, my dear kindred spirit, how the week has danced away from me with all the vigor of a gale rushing over the fields of Avonlea! I’ve tried to sit and pen this letter for days, but life, in its infinite busyness, has swept me off my feet like one of Anne’s wild imaginings.

This morning, I read your tender post about your beloved grandmother, and my heart both swelled and ached. How precious the memories of her, especially the simple intimacy of doing her hair—those small, sacred rituals that linger in the heart like the scent of apple blossoms in spring. I am so sorry for your loss.

What a rare and shining treasure to have had her in your life for so long! My own grandparents slipped away before I could fully appreciate their significance. Oh, how I wish I could sit with Grandma Gummerson for a Bible study, feel the solid warmth of Grandpa Gummerson’s lap beneath me, or meander with Grandpa Martin down to the gas station where a penny could buy a hundred gummy berries—a delight I’ve searched for ever since! And how I miss teasing Grandma Martin about courting Travis’s Grandpa Jones in their assisted living center. She would always bristle and protest, declaring that the love of her life was more than enough and that I was absolutely not to give out her number! Oh, the laughter those memories bring!

How precious that your children knew her. There is something so timeless and grounding in a link to our family’s history, isn’t there? It’s like holding a string that stretches back into eternity and beyond.

Would you believe it—I, too, will rest in Cedar Rest Cemetery in Almo, Idaho. Travis bought the plot on a whim during a visit to his parents. “A hundred dollars for eternity,” he told me, and I replied, “Cool,” as one does when eternity doesn’t feel quite real. My mother-in-law, Shelley, had the good sense to question this impulsive act, but Travis simply shrugged and said, “She won’t care,” and of course, he was right. Oh, how I could hear his smug I told you so in the background when I reassured her of my indifference. Some people belong to a place. I suppose I belong to the idea of belonging everywhere and nowhere all at once.

I simply marveled at the letter you shared from the lighthouse! Isn’t it enchanting to think of a message carried through time by the hands of history itself? That handwriting was a work of art, a testament to the beauty of paper and pen. I’ve taken up calligraphy myself—it’s such a whimsical delight! Each stroke of the pen feels like a whispered secret from another era.

Oh, and speaking of whispers from the past, I just finished re-reading Anne of Green Gables! Or, rather, Rachel McAdams read it to me through the magic of Audible. It had been years since I last ventured into Anne’s world, and how very like you to have introduced me to her all those years ago. I adore the movies, and though Anne with an E was a departure from the originals, it still captured that effervescent spirit that makes Anne... well, Anne. My friends and I are planning a pilgrimage to Prince Edward Island in the summer of 2026 to bask in the glory of all things Anne. It seems a long way off, but as you know, the joy of planning and dreaming sustains the soul of an Enneagram 7 like nothing else.

And finally, I must tell you, my favorite piece in your Christmas corner is the needlepoint JOY. It’s such a perfect emblem of the season and of you. Remember that, when summer rolls around and we see each other again.

Yours, with all the wistfulness and joy of a heart longing for a kindred spirit,

La