"Cleaning House": A letter from 13 year old Leara
Recently, I have been cleaning house literally and metaphorically. While going through a nightstand (that I cannot even recall what year I last opened it) I found several hidden gems from high school ID’s to pictures, and the last Birthday card I received with my grandmother’s writing before her passing. Underneath all of these things laid an envelope self addressed to me in my own writing postmarked 7-26-08. Growing up I wrote several letters to myself and figured this was one of them.
To my surprise this was not for me-this was written in the perspective of myself as a grandmother and wouldn’t be opened until I had passed by my remaining family. In the letter I even address parts of it to my grandchildren and is signed off “Grandmother Leara.” Depending when this was written we will say thirteen year old self wrote this one and to be honest I was surprised by a thirteen year old Leara’s thoughts in this perspective and believe it may be worth sharing some of the things written now rather than later.
In the letter I address two primary topics:
Love
and
Death
Love
I wrote:
“It is vital not to just comprehend love but show it throughout our daily lives.”
I go on to describe love in action and being mindful how your actions affect others from the way you smile at strangers and even carry yourself. I explain how it is ok to be yourself. The letter describes the validation that it's ok to feel sad. Honor those feelings and to practice in being self-aware in order to know when those feelings need to shift so you do not rob yourself and others of joy either. You are a gift and you
cannot forget to give yourself love too.
Death
I wrote:
“We are all going to die.”
It is the inevitable that seems to scare us perhaps because it is uncontrollable and we may not feel certain what comes next and the unknown doesn’t make us feel safe actually it’s pretty scary. And death should be discussed as a normalization since it is a normal part of our life. The minute we are born we are dying and even you reading this and as I write this we are dying. Like sand pouring in a time capsule we may not know when that sand will run out. Often this crosses our mind when given a specific number of days or months left to live or when an event occurs that may be our "wake up call" when in actuality we are currently dying-so I hope you don’t wait to live your dying years now.
I go on:
“Remember to always stand up for what’s right whether you are standing alone or not"
"Pray for your enemies, smile with glitter in your eyes, hug people as if it’s the last time you will see them, act as if you were to die today, care for strangers, offer help, be respectful, kind, peaceful and courageous, don’t lower yourself to someone else’s standards, give yourself what you deserve, work hard and love with all the strength you have."
"Extending your hand is extending yourself but extending your hand in kindness is extending your soul’s love. This is not going to be easy so if you
try , fail, get up again,
try, fail, get up again,
try , fail, get up again,
try, fail, get up again….”
Purpose:
“There is a specific reason for you to be here and I only hope you discover your purpose, little or large to you, your purpose is immense to the world, don’t forget.”
“Loved you before you were born, now always and forever,
Grandmother Leara”