Old Letters

Shortly before my dad died he showed me an envelope full of old letters that I had made and given to him.  I totally remember making some of these!  I remember my finger paints, I remember kissing my notes with lipstick, I remember making the memmaid and Valentine notes, I remember putting a piece of paper on our HOT wood burning stove and putting crayon shavings on the paper and watching it melt.  Then I would quickly blow the paper off the stove and hurry and shake it to cool it down.....  Stupid I know, I totally could have started a fire, but the point is that I remember making them.  I remember having to sometimes wait several days or even a couple weeks before I would see my dad to give them to him.

Made my heart melt a little when I saw them.  My dad always made me write the date on my notes.  Some of them were from when I was just 5 years old.  Thirty one years later, he still had them.

After he died, Nancy gave them back to me.

It's the weirdest feeling still, to know that nobody's ever going to call me Laquita Matilda May again.

Tears run down my cheeks every time I think about it. 

I never thought a stupid nickname would come to mean so much.