In these highly personal letters I simply listed my memories of each person and the good times we had shared in our relationships, defined in words that were somehow more easily written down than expressed out loud. At first, it was quite difficult, but as I began recalling the shared moments that had passed between us, doorways flew open and more and more good memories were remembered.

To Mom I wrote about how I remembered her 1950's print dresses, and how they flowed in the breeze caused from the train passing by while the engineer blew his whistle at an awestruck young boy day after day as I waved and Mom probably wanted to be elsewhere.

To Dad I recalled my first memories of his face, smiling with perfect teeth, as he whirled me -- oh, so carefully -- in mid air, grateful for a son.

To Aunt Suzi I related how amazed I was, even at an early age at her business independence in a world run my men at a time when her face was the "RIT DYE LADY" on the boxes of Easter dye she sent us year after year.

To my grandmother, who soothed wounds with a kiss and supplied an ample amount of cherry Popsicles while watching and listening to lightning strikes and thunder from her front porch swing, nestled safely against her ample breast, I thanked her for the needed security she projected while Dad was away at something called "War".

To Mary, who always was Mom's best friend and who gave absolutely the BEST back scratches in the world, I professed gratitude, thanking her for her unrelenting closeness with Mom.

And to the schoolteacher who first took notice and taught me it was okay to be different and think for myself, I expressed a plain and simple thank you, because she always preferred plain and simple writing.

Years later, after my grandmother had died at the age of 95, I was talking to Mary (sadly, no longer with us). Mary was the administrator of the small town retirement home in which my grandmother spent the last years of her life. Mary told me Grandma had opened and re-read that letter from me so many times that it had become so creased and frayed that Mary had to tape it together with Scotch tape.

In retrospect, sending those letters was one of the best things I've ever done. I recommend everyone doing the same thing while time is still available, because time has a way of slipping away. For me, the letters I wrote were a great cleansing experience that's still with me even after all these years.