by Kellemora » 31 Oct 2013, 12:34
At the time the kids were all still in the nest. They all had a great time, and often asked me to go or do things with them. Always had little gifts for me, even when there was no special occasion to give one.
Even my foster kids were friendly, well, all except the eldest who was away at college first.
The boy liked me, even though he didn't see me often. When he got home from service and I got him a house (long story to go with that one), he used to call me at least once a week. Then his job had him traveling so much, the calls only came when he was home. Then after a couple of years, no more.
One of the girls loved me to pieces. And was very happy I took care of everything for her. Including her wedding. She wasn't much for making phone calls, but sent me little notes, usually with a photo or two. The last one I received was when she was getting ready to move. It too had a photo, of a new baby, and a letter telling about her husbands company moving him. She promised to write as soon as she had an address. I never heard from her again, and the post office never received a forwarding address. I often checked the phone directory for the town they were supposed to move to, but with his common last name, it was futile to try.
I did hear from the boy after about five years of nothing, via only a post card from Minnesota, with no return address on it. The personal note only said should be home by March.
Out of the clear blue sky, not from the foster kids or the step kids, but by one of the daughters of my late wife's oldest sister, I received a very long letter, filling me in on the happenings on my late wife's side of the family. It was written in such a way that it was obviously intended to go to all of her family members she had addresses for. In other words, not a personal letter to me alone. It originally went my home address, and returned to the sender. I had lived in TN for almost four years at that time. It was another year before I finally received it, shoved into a larger envelope. This time it did have a personal note inside the larger envelope, and sent to me directly by one of my late wife's favorite cousin's who I worked with.
He didn't explain exactly how he ended up with a letter from Ruth's sisters daughter, when he is from Ruth's first husbands side of the family. Or maybe he's from her own father's side of the family. I don't remember for sure.
The personal note just said what he had been doing since the last time we saw each other, mostly generalizations. He talked more about Ruth than himself, which is understandable. Said he was going through some of Marlene's files and ran across the enclosed letter. Being a lawyer, he had no trouble getting my address, but did say he used the ham radio call book, which he knew would be up to date.
I sent him a very long reply letter about three years ago, but never heard back from him.
Because I did the family genealogy work on both sides, all sides of my families, I had access to several of the SS numbers. And I found all of Ruth's immediate relatives, aunts and uncles I had numbers for, all deceased now.
I did not have those numbers for their children. And I never showed birth dates in the public records.
Oh well, no biggie, time marches on!
TTUL
Gary