A HANDWRITTEN LETTER

by Earlie Doriman 

The handwritten letter from my
mother-in-law Sarah Sanchez

My mother-in-law is a truly amusing person. She never ran out of good jokes to keep people around her burst into laughter. But she’s no intruder to occasions, she knows where and when to share her comic lines and stories. She is definitely an antidote to boredom and her stories are not just for fun for the sake of laughing, they most of the chances end with brilliant lessons to life and faith. This time last year, she was here in England on vacation and she stayed with us for six months and in those times she had not failed to crack a witty relief everyday.

My mother-in-law Sarah during the Filipino Xmas Party
last year in Rochdale, England

We were very touched to receive a letter from her last week, a handwritten letter that is probably no longer an ‘in thing’ in this computer age. When everybody used emails, and social networking sites to convey messages, my mother-in-law defying with pride what is considered to be an indispensable communication tool of today, managed to write legibly a lengthy but meaningful letter to us. It means so much  because it would honestly take a lot of effort and sincerity to write and express oneself in an old fashion, yet loving manner. And to think that it was not just a one-page letter but seven, you would surely appreciate it beyond utterance.  My mom-in-law is not naïve to computers and she could have typed those words that she wrote and that would have been more easy and convenient for her. And I know for certain that she is computer literate being a department head of the Human Resource Office.  But she chose to do what she thought was more personal and powerfully affectionate. And we so grateful of it.

Her wisdom and humour even magnify in her letter, and in fact included couple of lessons and jokes to give us a reason to ponder about life and laugh amidst the yearning to see her and our families again.  I could not help but tempted to share some of these to you and I hope this will put a smile on your face too and provide nugget of lessons to reflect.

Three Stages of Life

TEENS: You have all the time and energy but no money.

WORKERS: You have the money and energy but no time.

OLDIES: You have all the time and money but no energy.

Moral Lesson: Enjoy life and enjoy the things that you have at the moment, because you can’t have everything all at once.

One day a rich dad took his son on a trip. He wanted to show him how poor someone can be. They spent time on the farm of a poor family…

On the way home, Dad asked his son: Did you see how poor they are? What did you learn?

The son said: We have a pool, they have rivers. We have electricity and lanterns at night, they have the moon and the stars. We buy foods, they grow theirs. We have fence and walls to protect us, they have friends. We have encyclopedia and computers, they have bible.

Then the boy added: Thanks Dad for showing me how poor we are. It’s not about money that put you to riches, it is about simplicity in having God in your life.

We live on earth full of trials, but by the grace of God we remain standing like trees. Even if the leaves are falling, still there are leaves of hope waiting. When we feel being poisoned by stress, pressure, and failures, the best antidote is to pray – nothing more nothing less.