Back home and Thanks for Sharing, Wil Wheaton.

It is good to get back home. The first thing that I said to my wife when I saw her was “Hable en inglés, por favor.” Maybe you had to be there.

I went to see my Grandmother today. We had a nice lunch and chatted. She is adjusting very well to her new home. She has made several friends. She was even out in the lobby of the place talking up a new friend. This doesn’t sound like much, but if you knew my Grandmother then you would know how big a deal that is.

On the way home I got to thinking about a post on Wil Wheaton’s blog that I read last night. (if you want to read if for yourself, it is here http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/ “i find it hard to tell you, because i find it hard to take”). The topic of the post is a wasted opportunity from when Wil was a teenager. I know when I read it I felt the pangs of guilt from the opportunities that I blew or the mistakes that I compounded due to the arrogance and stupidity of youth. I’m sure that those who read that piece and don’t feel the same are few and far between. I would want to tell Wil (whom I do not know) “Dude, join the club”, but he probably knows.

For myself, I could tell about the time I backed my Dad’s van into my Mom’s car. I could tell about filling my Dad’s lawn mower with paint when it should have been gasoline. I could even tell about the time I took most of a bottle of aspirin because I had a headache and then hid in the woods so as not to get into trouble (that was almost the last time I got in trouble). I could go on for days, unfortunately. Most of you have your own lists, I’m sure.

Eventually, my thoughts turned to something I did very right and now I feel the need to share. This is not an original idea, but I saw the beauty of it right away. What I did was to write my Mother a letter. It was a simple letter that said how much I appreciate the sacrifices and pain that she and my late father endured to raise me and my brothers. If you know my family, you also know that it was mostly me that made raising a family a challenge.

I started the letter by writing that I had waited until a time when no celebrations or milestones or illnesses or anything of that matter was approaching. I wanted the note to stand for what is was, a love letter, and not be overshadowed by any other event. I made sure to point out how well we had turned out and that it was my Mother and Father who lead us to where we are now. I told her how I loved her for who she was and what she had done. I told her how proud she should be of the job she had done. I should have said it all many times and many years eariler.

Mom never said any more than that she got the letter. She didn’t have to.

The person that gave me the idea told me that one day when my Mother has passed that I would find that letter among her most prized positions. I think and hope that that day is a long way off, but I believe that the letter is there.

Now isn’t time for you to write a letter?