Christmas in July

Yesterday our favorite postman Cary brought me three big boxes. They came postage due because the post office upgraded the rate after inspecting the contents. I was so delighted to receive them that paying the difference was not a big deal. These were boxes of memorabilia from my daughter that Brent had packed and shipped. And what was inside? In terms of bulk, the biggest item was LETTERS. I believe my daughter must have saved every letter she ever received. I enjoyed cards and letters my parents had sent to Julia, and then I read through some I wrote to her. Of particular interest were the ones I wrote during the period when Neal first called me and we had started writing to each other. I have no idea what I'm going to do with the letters, so for the time being I'll just put them aside.
The background in the photo is the baby quilt I made for Julia when I was first pregnant. In 1972 in Montana, teachers were fired when they became pregnant, so I made the quilt in my mom's bedroom in case someone should drop in while I worked on it. When I notified the district I was pregnant, their reply began, "We have received your letter of resignation..." Nice that they hired me back the next school year.
The other items in the photo are a wooden name puzzle that Julia's dad made for her, and beside it is the first cross stitch Julia ever made...she was 8 years old.
I just remembered something - the yarn ties on the quilt are the second round. The first batch were very soft and Julia figured out how to untie them - and removed about half, so I had to redo the quilt with a different type of yarn.