I received a surprise in the mail a couple days ago when a note from my Mom showed up in our mailbox. Now our Mom has not been with us for over fifty-seven years.

She died of a massive heart attack the day before Thanksgiving in l961. I was a senior in high school at the time.

So how could I have possibly received a note written by her just a few days ago? Let me explain.

Miss Allen was my favorite teacher in elementary school. Well to be truthful she was my favorite teacher of all times. In an earlier blog I discussed the fact that I thought I might even have been the teacher’s pet. But I’ve since discovered that many of my classmates thought the same thing about themselves. Each of us considered ourselves to be her pet.

Miss Allen made us all feel like we were her favorites. That’s a special gift some teachers have. I only hope that during my forty-two year teaching career that I had that same gift of making my students feel that ‘teacher pet’ honor too. 🙂

I had Miss Allen two years in a row. No, no it’s not what it seems. I did not fail a grade! During my second grade year I was in a combination room of second and third graders. The following year I was in a class of all third graders.

When Miss Allen returned to teach us as third graders her name had been changed to Mrs. Lindahl. She had gotten married that summer much to my dismay. Since I had had a crush on her for the whole preceding year I had to struggle emotionally to accept the marriage thing. 🙁

When I discovered that nothing had changed except her name and I still felt like I was her pet I recovered emotionally rather quickly.:)

Mrs. Lindahl and I have remained friends for all of these years. We exchange Christmas cards annually and occasionally run into each other and have a good old ‘gab session’ catching up on each other’s lives.

Well it was this year’s Christmas card from Mrs. Lindahl that led me to receive a note from my Mom.

The note wasn’t addressed to me personally. It was addressed to Miss Allen so I knew it was written when I was in the second grade, BW. (Before Wedding)

It seems Mrs. Lindahl was looking through old scrapbooks from her teaching years in Clinton. She discovered an envelope containing “letters from Moms” written on the front.

In that envelope she discovered a letter from my Mom explaining a problem that I had incurred on the bus ride home from school that afternoon.

The note began: Dear Miss Allen, Michael lost his spelling book in the window casing of the school bus, on his way home from school. If you’ll tell him how much he has to refund for the cost of the book he will bring it to school. He seems to think he is supposed to pay for it and wasn’t sure how he could inform you(ha’) so I suggested I write a note. Thanks a lot, Jane Larson

Now as a little second grader I am sure that had to have been a traumatic experience especially for me who thought perfection was a natural requirement of life. But I do not remember the trauma of dropping my spelling book down the window casing.

Thank goodness as I have had enough past failings weighing on my mind as it is. It’s that perfection thing again! 🙂

The note reminded me how much I missed my Mom over all the years since she left us. She was only 47 when she died.

The other memory that the note brought back was her handwriting. She had beautiful handwriting and I was reminded of that as I read and re-read the note.

Getting mail is not like it used to be. Sifting through the junk mail is tedious and boring. So to receive a 67 year old note from my Mom in the mail was quite uplifting. It was the highlight of my Christmas holiday! 🙂

Now I just have one more job to complete. I need to locate a junked 1950’s school bus and see if I can salvage my second grade spelling book! Wish me luck. 🙂

Until next time.