Mail and Sadness

As I was cleaning out my overflowing drawers--if it's printed and good, I probably save it, I found the following letter:

Dear Sigrid,

 

Thank you.  Actually I had ordered several copies of the book in May and I just received one of them several weeks ago.  I just finished reading it and Sigrid, words just can’t express how much I was moved to tears and emotionally involved in it!  I have no idea how many of my ancestors stayed behind in Russia, and faced these horrible circumstances, but I’m sure there were many.  I do know that some of them did die during the famines.

 

How grateful I am for my grandparents who came to Canada and the United States and embraced freedom and a new culture.

 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing our G/R story.  I am going to make sure that family members get copies of this trilogy, because I want them to appreciate their heritage and learn our history.  And I will encourage others to make themselves available of this opportunity.

 

I look forward to reading your wonderful speech in the Journal.

 

Blessing on you,

 

Wilann

 

Once again I was touched by the warmth and the sheer good feeling of this letter. It is not often that readers allow you to see how you affected their life. I am grateful to those who take the time to communicate. By chance I came another blog today that mentioned my books very laudably, and I wished the gentleman had written a note to me, for only by the merest chance did I find his post.

I think I was even more affected by Wilan's letter, because I am at the time of life when our friends die, suffer from illness or, if they are not afflicted they carry the physical and psychic burden of their loved-ones. A friend's husband died today, two others have withdrawn into the world of caregiving, leaving the rest of us to wonder how they are doing. I will go into the garden to cheer me.