
Nana’s Diary
Dear Andy,
My mother kept a diary around the time I was born. When I was young, she let me read some of it. I remember feeling excited as I opened the soft pages. The cover was made of fabric. Pink and purple flowers ran down the front. In her own words and careful, feminine handwriting, my mother cataloged her experience of my birth and first months of life. Reading her diary made me realize two things. First, that my mother loved me very much. It felt good to read that her thoughts were consumed with love for me and to read of the joy and optimism she felt in that stage of life. The second thing that I learned about my mother after reading her diary was that she was her own person. I was able to view, at a young age, that my mother had once been living with me only as a dream. She was a young woman with questions and hopes and I was delighted to learn that many of those hopes were wrapped around me. I was loved, and she was her own person. May my words let you know the same. My son, my love, my heart and my hope. You are my inspiration and my exhalation. Here are the daily views from your mom. Many of them will be joyful, because they are of you.