From the past

What an amazing surprise to receive these letters, found among the parents' papers, kept safely all these years. I have absolutely no memory of writing them, and would have been just turning 6 - my birthday is a couple of weeks after (Canadian) mothers' day -

The letter below, from my aunt, starts "Margaret has no patience with writing." We (aunt, grandmother, brother and I) were still in Quebec and the parents had driven out to Vancouver to find somewhere for us all to live.

The next letter must have been written some weeks later, or on a day of greater patience. I'm thanking Mutti and Papa for the lovely presents in a parcel. Probably my aunt or grandmother sat patiently with me, spelling out the letters, or encouraging me to copy what they had written down - this is speculation; I have no memory of learning to write (or read) but certainly couldn't do so in English before going to school, or later in German almost till I was in high school.
The women in the family, skilled in needlework and other practical arts, encouraged us children to make things (and to develop patience). From an early age we made presents for the aunties in Germany - cross-stitched borders on gingham teatowels, embroidered egg cosies. Once, visiting my aunt, she showed me a drawer where she had kept all these gifts. In those days, time filled in what money couldn't provide. Perhaps we'll need to get back to that way of thinking.