Remember the Families from New Orleans...

 

The mail arrived last week and in the piles of bills and ads was the letter I didn't expect. I just thought my brother In-laws family would be too caught up in their daily challenge of trying to build back their life. And that is O.K., I more than understand. I figured my sister would share any messages with me, over the phone when we spoke.

Before I opened the letter, I looked at the date sent and smiled at the little snowman stamped on the front with a pretty design all over the envelope. I was hesitant to open the letter, I held it for a long time before opening and I don't know why.

All sorts of stuff went through my mind. What if it wasn't enough? What if I missed someone on the list, I didn't think I did, but what if I did? I checked the list several times, my heart stopped, what if I had missed one of the children, in the haste to get everything together, then packed off to the post office?

I carefully opened the letter and slowly read...my eyes filled with tears and my heart pounded. I couldn't finish, I was so overwhelmed, so touched with the feelings written into words that leaped out and grabbed my heart. My husband finished reading the two pages of deep emotions of "Thank you" aloud, from the family born and raised in New Orleans, now exiled. The Christmas that just was...filled with a time of giving, sharing and love. When the time is right, one day, I'll Thank them too.