Stories of Kindness from Around the World

5 Love Notes To My Grand-mother


--by tesa, posted Mar 18, 2015
I was just in France to visit my grand-mother who is very dear to me. I don’t get to cross the Atlantic very often, and she’s now 96 year old, so every time I go visit, the two of us are very aware that it might be the last time we see each other.

Last time I visited her in December of 2004, I did a series of short video interviews about her life. I asked her what it was like to grow up with her father in the 1910s (her mother died during labor), to live through the German occupation alone with two young children with a husband away in a prisoners' camp in Germany. I asked her about her greatest memories and life learnings so far, her favorite books, foods, stories. I also asked her about her spirituality and her thoughts about death. I learned a lot of amazing new things about her I never knew before. These were very intimate conversations and a very special time for both of us.

This year, I did not really have questions, only a great urge for her to know how loved she is. I cooked for her, and read her stories. I gave her a foot massage, which I was amazed to discover was her first ever!

Before leaving, I was looking for a way to leave something meaningful
to behind besides the memory of our time together. So I wrote her five different love and gratitude notes to let her know how much she means to me, and hid them in different places where I knew she would eventually find them… One under the sheets, on her pillow. Another one hanging from the lamp shade by which she reads in the evening. Another one by her toothbrush. One in her mailbox which she eagerly checks every day. And a last one on her car’s steering wheel (she still drives to the nearby village a couple of times a week to run errands!).

I left really joyous knowing that these cards would surely cheer her up after I left (she lives by herself). She called me as I was traveling back to Paris to catch my plane back to the US and said (in French of course): “I found your three cards! By the time I discovered the third, I was laughing out loud! They did me so much good. Thank you so much!” I smiled to myself, knowing she still had two more to go! It was Sunday, so my guess is that she had not checked her mailbox and had not yet driven her car!

As I was sitting on the plane back to the United States, I remembered that one of my friends' guiding principles is to treat everyone like family, and so I was thinking about ways to practice that in different settings, including on a plane ride. I decided that on my next flight, I would bring and write five anonymous appreciation cards for different people on the plane, including the pilot who probably does not get thanked enough for taking us safely to our destination.
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Readers Comments

twiceblessed wrote: Tesa, fantastic idea! Aren't grandmas just wonderful? I'm thinking that I should do this with my mom too.
Alraisi wrote: Great you know this will make her Very happy and that's great there will be someone else is SMILING too. You know when you write something which came from the heart is better than a gift. So Keep It Up... Bless You...!!!
Alraisi
brighteyes wrote: Tesa....my eyes were misty as I read your email....what a wonderful idea about the "5" love and Gratitude notes....I moved away from my Mom almost 5 years ago and last visit I left her a stick-um love note that she found the following week as I hid it in her desk drawer....I did not think like you to make up several and am going to do that this trip since we leave end of the this month...she is 75 now and my Dad has passed away and I know she gets lonely for him and me...I miss her so much....I like the idea about a video....I gave her a Book to fill in that called My Life Book and she is adding stories, quotes, her favorite things, etc and I will get it after she passes...it will be in her handwriting and the first time I read it....so I will for sure cherish it....I cherish letters and handwritten cards and notes from other passed love ones....I like my Nana's handwritten and food smeared recipe cards...I am going to cover them so they do not fade and are still useable.
MegaSmiles from Brightyes! ;)
AURELIA wrote: Tesa, This is a wonderful Idea! I'm sure your grandma will read them many times. You have a special gift at a young age to know what's important in life and to cheerish the time with your loved one and building loving memories. Smiling from Ear to Ear .. .~Aurelia
mitu wrote: what a beautiful piece to share! i can already see the positive&contagious effect such stories have, as they encourage all of us to sprinkle our love throughout the universe.
steve green wrote: thanks for that story.. I am 33 and one of my first thoughts was that almost everyone could probably be treated as it was the last time you were going to see them..of course there were more thoughts ,however .....(time)...
samson95 wrote: How sweet of you!!! We should all do what Steve green said, treat everyone like it will be the last time we see them..you never know what life will bring!
philip joshua wrote: How true....Small acts of kindness does lots of big things in life.As Mother teresa told....we may not do great things,but only small things with great love...
Jagdish wrote: Great Idea. This idea can be used for children. For example, On their birthday keep some gifts for him/her at different places and ask him/her to search for them. By doing that, they tend to know that everything cannot get free and they have to work hard.
jankirampanda wrote: live reliable and honest lives.

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