My grandma and I were close from the very beginning. I slept over on weekends and we would call each other on the phone to catch up. After my grandpa passed away, I signed up for a semester abroad in Italy. My grandma and I would exchange letters weekly. I would share my travel adventures with her and personal stories. In some ways, I think this helped distract her from the loss of my grandpa. When I returned, she asked if I wanted the letters. That is one of my regrets, I wish I would have saved her letters and my letters from over the years.
I have kept a few of the letters that she sent over the years and I have tucked them in books and different places. I will run across them from time to time randomly and they always make me smile. She used to send $2 bills in her letters and I also kept those and stash them in different wallets. It is a little reminder she is with me.
In the letters, my grandma would also send newspaper articles. They would be on a variety of topics on things she would think I would find interesting. Alongside the articles would be a post-it note with details on the article. My aunt and uncle have carried on the tradition, sending me letters in the mail with newspaper clippings.
When I started the blog, I would collect articles and share them on Facebook whenever I came across something of interest. I decided to round them up weekly and share them with readers now called Links I Love. ❤️ I think of this as a tribute to my grandma weekly to continue our tradition of reading and sharing articles from newspapers and magazines from the week.
If you go back a few years, you can read links I love and they are a timestamp of history. This past year of the pandemic, I have shared articles on different stages of lockdown, baking trends, re-entry anxiety, and now what we have learned from the pandemic.
My grandma never had a computer but read a lot and was up to date on technology and trends. When she passed, Twitter was trending and she knew all about it. If she was still alive, I know she would have been the biggest fan of the blog and would have continued to send me articles I would find interesting and to share with all of you.
As you read links I love, my grandma is the one to thank for encouraging me and inspiring me.