Handwriting

It seems that handwritten notes are such a thing of the past. With email, text messaging, and Facebook, information is so readily available that no one even to think about sending a good, old-fashioned, handwritten note. That is why I am so glad that I saved these two notes from my parents, in their own handwriting.

I received these notes in the mail during my first few weeks of college at Texas Tech. I still remember, to this day, receiving both of them and crying as I read them. They were tears of joy and sadness at the same time because the letters meant so much to me, but I missed my family terribly.

As I was preparing to write this post, I re-read each of the notes. My mom's letter reminded me of an amazing tradition that I want to pass along to Gracie. I distinctly remember sitting on the porch looking up at the stars with my parents on more than one occasion. I loved gazing up into the starry sky and watching for shooting stars.

Although Grace is in bed before the world goes darks and the stars appear, we do our own star-gazing with the help of her Twilight Turtle. I wish I had thought to take a picture of it, but it's now too late and too dark to go into her bedroom for a picture. I did find a great illustration of what the Twilight Turtle does to her bedroom walls and ceiling online:

Every night before we put Grace in bed, we let her turn on her turtle, and we point to the stars and find the moon projected on the ceiling before singing Twinkle, Twinkle together. I absolutely love the excitement she gets every night, just from turning on the stars. I think this is a great way to begin the star-gazing tradition!