PS - I miss you

My mother (now very frail and well into her 90's) is a terrifyingly practical lady -
a terrible thrower outer of anything and everything not in everyday use.

When I was a child I got a comic each week called Sandra. It was all about girls at a ballet school. I loved it. But each copy would disappear as soon as I had read it.

In my teens I graduated onto The Beatles Weekly. I had almost every copy and guarded them carefully. When I went away to University I hid them in the attic thinking they were safe - Sadly not. About 10 years later I went up there to have a quick read and they were all gone. That really broke my heart - especially knowing how valuable they had become.

Her recent throw out was the box of family postcards. In retrospect it is quite extra-ordinary that she hadn't done it years ago. There were postcards to us all, dating back to well before I was born.

I was horrified and said so. I had loved having the occasional look at them.

On my next visit they had miraculously been recovered. They had apparently reached the bin of items to be burnt, but had not actually  gone into the fire. I was amazed that she had saved them for me.

So of course I sat down with her to look through them with a renewed feeling of preciousness and discovery.

One of the first cards I found was one that I had never seen before. It was an ancient black and white card of Athens  -crowned by the Acropolis.
It was from my father (now dead more than 30 years) to my mother.

It said very simply that - He had arrived safely, had eaten and was going to have an early night - Love Dad Then it said
PS - I miss you

Oh my goodness. So simple and yet - such emotion - I wanted to cry

I read it out to my mother

Without pause for thought - she said
" I am still missing him".

I told her that she ought to put it somewhere special,
But she didn't seem really interested.

I get the feeling she is slowly letting it all go .
She doesn't need to throw it away

She will soon be going and leaving it all behind