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Bud Grossmann’s
Words of the Week
for the Week of
April 26, 2020
Published as a Gramma Letter
dated April 26, 1994.
© 1994, 2020 by Bud Grossmann.
All Rights Reserved.
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Persons of a Certain Stature (1993)
© 1993 by Bud Grossmann
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BUD’S FIRST OFFICIAL
“GRAMMA LETTER”
Tuesday, April 26, 1994
Dear Gramma,
Grampa could have told us how far it was—practically to the foot, I’ll bet—from the front steps of your farmhouse to your mailbox at the northwest corner of the place. A good long ways, I’d say. Out the rutted driveway, bright with white gravel, to the barn and up the little hill where the road gets sandy. Then past the big oak, through the stand of locusts, and on out along the north fence line to Townline Road.
You’re pretty near ninety-three years old, Granny, but not quite two years have passed, have they, since you last made that hike along the driveway, with your cane to steady yourself, a dark scarf to hold your white curls in place, and a cloth sack with a draw string to haul home the daily newspaper, a few bills and advertisements, and, on good days, a card or letter or two.
We never knew for sure when the mail carrier would come, so you sometimes made the round trip a second time, if you came up empty-handed on your first run. I can clearly see you in a flowered dress that comes to mid-shin, your no-nonsense black shoes on your much-abused feet, and a red sweater buttoned tight across your ample front. I can see the blue veins of your thin, pale fingers as you clutch the handle of your cane. On your other hand, your left hand, holding the mail bag, I see your white gold wedding band, thin and loose, shining purely in the sun.
I can see your mouth, lips hard and tight—this journey to the mailbox is a duty as much as it’s a pleasure—and most of the twinkle in your pretty blue eyes is dimmed. But I bet I could make you laugh. “Oh, Buddy, now stop your foolishness!” you’d growl.
Where do you get your mail now, Gramma? Does someone bring it to you in your room at The Manor? Or do you still make a daily pilgrimage to a metal box with a clackety door, which, when you tug it open, presents you with pleasant surprises or an echoing disappointment?
I am ashamed that I write to you so infrequently. I remember well my joy, years ago, of receiving letters from you and Grampa. I was thrilled last November when you replied, one by one, to most of the thirty letters that I sent to you all in one bunch, before my parents left Wisconsin for a month’s long visit here in Hawaii with me and my family.
Let’s be pen pals again, dear Grandmother. I promise I will write to you every Tuesday from now until forever. You don’t have to promise me anything, but you know, if you do write, you will make me happy beyond my dreams.
All my love,
Your grandson,
Buddy
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Author’s Note:
Grandpa (born in 1902) and Grandma Grossmann (born in 1901) were faithful and reliable correspondents with many friends and family members. I invite you to read (again?) my WoW of July 3, 2011.
Soon after Grandpa died, on the family farm in 1992, Grandma moved into an old folks home (as we in the olden days called them), where she lived until her death at age ninety-seven.
I myself wrote less faithfully, less reliably, but I did write letters to Gramp and Gram from the time I first learned to assemble words on a page, probably beginning in 1955. After I made the promise to “write every Tuesday from now until forever” (in the letter printed above), I became much more reliable.
When I first started sending these “Tuesday Letters,” I enclosed a stamped return envelope and the start of a reply. Grandma, with the help of friends and relatives, did send replies for a while. The following is her reply to the letter shown above.
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Mrs. Alice Grossmann
323 West Monroe Street
Wyocena, Wisconsin 53969
This letter is in reply to BG’s letter of 4/26/94.
Date May 2, 1994
Dear Buddy,
Here are some thoughts on the subject of Written Correspondence.
I enjoyed getting your letter and I’m having Dolly write this for me.
It’s sunny and nice out today but we just had 7.2 in. of snow in Madison on Sat. & we had 5 in. or more here. It’s all melted now.
Dorie & Phil are home again. It was good to see them. Dorie has had the flu since she got back but Terry & Phil came to see me last night. The leaves are coming out on the trees and the grass is green.
Somebody brings my mail to my room now and makes it makes me happy to get letters.
Love to all of you,
Grandma Grossmann
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I would welcome your thoughts on this page (or any of my
others). Write to me at the following address. Please
be sure to spell Grossmann with two n’s and
mention what page you are writing about.
Thanks! BUD GROSSMANN
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This page was updated Sat, Apr 25, 2020, 11:55PM CDT.
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© 2020 by Bud Grossmann
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