The year before my mother passed away, she sat down and wrote me a letter. Although at the age of 90 her eyesight and hearing were failing, she managed to put pen to paper. Despite the challenges of her senior years, her cursive handwriting was impeccable.

My mother was a believer in the written word and passed that thinking along to her children. She insisted thank-you notes be written when receiving gifts. However, my mother was also the product of a generation that wasn’t outwardly affectionate with words.

Mom was raised by her father and older female relatives after her own mother died when Mom was just a tiny child. While she had role models in her life, none replaced her mother. It explains a lot of why she showed her love for us in other ways, i.e., baking our favorite birthday cake or making sure my sister K.C. had her preferred white chocolate in her Easter basket.

Don’t get me wrong, we knew we were loved, but it just wasn’t something we said out loud. So when I received the letter from my mother, I was openly moved to read the words she put on paper. She expressed many feelings that were buried over the years during the busyness of child rearing.

In the letter, my mother revealed a startling fact. She said our dad was a petty thief. Let me explain. My mother’s letter was written on a single piece of stationery that bears the logo of the White House. Yes, the White House in Washington, D.C.

She claimed that our dad “lifted it” during one of his visits to the White House during his years as editor-in-chief for the newspaper. She noted it was probably a federal offense. I got a good laugh out of it.

Mom’s letter ended with her encouraging me in my career and asking me to always stay close to my siblings after she was gone. She has been gone almost eight years now, and I have read and re-read that letter many times when I just needed to hear from my mother.

It’s never too late to write a letter, or better yet, just tell the people you love how you feel NOW.

Heather Ziegler can be reached via email at hziegler@theintelligencer.net.