In the month before Jeanette died, she gave me letters for each one of our children. She said that they weren't goodbye letters, but memories that she had of each one of them individually. She told me that it was up to me to decide when to give them to Brett, Cal, Meg and Cameron.
I had kept those letters in our fire proof lock box for almost nine years waiting for the best time to share those letters. I knew that I wanted the four of them to have their letters at the same time, but wasn't sure when that would be. We had talked about doing it last Thanksgiving, but since we hadn't had a time alone with only the four of them, I decided that Cameron's graduation would be the perfect moment.
On Monday morning of Memorial Day weekend, I pulled the letters out of the lock box, explained Grandma Heinisch's intentions, and told them that neither Dad nor I had ever read them. Brett, Cal and Cameron read their letters immediately. I didn't ask for any information, but was glad to hear that they really appreciated having them and that they loved remembering their time with their Grandma Heinisch.
Meg shared her letter more in depth with me later that evening. It was nice to hear Grandma's memories of her and Meg's time together. Meg loved how supportive she was and missed her that night ever so much. She told me that I could read the letter anytime that I wanted. I thanked her and said that I think I would pass on that for now. I really appreciated Meg's offer, but knew that I wasn't in a mindset where I could be sad. Life had been so incredibly hard this past year and thinking about how much we would have loved having Jeanette in our life right now was more than I could handle. In saying that, I was just so incredibly happy that she chose to leave such a wonderful legacy for our children. It was the perfect tribute to the way that she led her life - always thinking of others.
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