Beatrice (The Letter I Never Mailed)

Last week, Beatrice wrote a breezy story about fashion and a weighty story about her son, but she only read one of them out loud: the "fashion" one. At the end of class, when Beatrice added her work to my stack of papers, for me to post here online, I didn’t notice there were two pages.

I only noticed when I was home later, scanning the papers one by one for my volunteers to type up. I stopped scanning to reread the second story over and over again. Its short length carries the weight of the world.

I was struck by Bernice’s choice to write this quiet tribute to her son and post it for the enormous world to see, yet refrain from reading it in our tight-knit class. I don’t know what it means, but I know two things: she is such a good mother, and she will always be a good mother.

Beatrice Newkirk
March 4, 2010
Fashion Today       

Looking at fashions today brings back fashions of yesterday.  I look at the old movies and they go way back.  I look at the clothes and how they are made - the shoes, the dresses and most of all the hats.  When I look in the store’s windows, I see things of yesterday.  When I see them, they remind me of yesterday.  Even the hair and make-up, like times from yesterday.

Beatrice Newkirk
March 4, 2010
A Letter to My Son

A letter to my son, who was in the services (army) 1970 to 1989 – so many letters he did not receive. He came out with lots of awards. I never took the time to show him how proud I was of him. Now he’s in his fifties, with children and grandkids. I wrote the letter and never mailed it. I have the letter at home. At the right time I will give it to him. I want him to know how I feel. I want him to talk to his kids about the letter.