re: Found an old, unread letter from my Dad, who passed a couple of years back

Ill take something from this. I have 5, oldest is 9, and its going so damn fast. Way too fast. Years feels like days. Also, i wish i had something like this from mine. Im an only child and my dad died at 48 out of no where, heart attack, gone. He never got to see his grandkids or see his son be doing so well and that kills me. Hes been gone about a decade. Take care of yourselves for your kids. They dont stop needing you at 18, especially not nowadays.

Writing letters to your kids on their birthdays isn't just cool for the kids. It's cool to look at them 7-8-9 years later as their parent and read what you wrote for them on their 1st or 2nd birthday.

We have all the letters we've written over the last 11 years. We'll continue to write them, just a question of holding them until graduation or longer.

Awesome post. My dad pasted away suddenly a year and a half ago at the age of 61. It was unexpected. I thought he would be around for a while. The one thing I miss are the phone calls. I would give alot to talk to him one more time. He was a great dad and I truly miss him everyday.

With that said, this is awesome you found this letter. He seems like he was a great dad.

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One thing I’d like to do is to write a series of letters, or perhaps emails to my kids that will be delivered every so often after I die. I could schedule the delivery by email pretty easily.

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I set up an email address for my daughter (now 5) when she was an infant. I periodically write her little notes, telling her what she’s been up to in recent weeks, with humorous stories about her, and reminders of how much I love her. I will say there is something about seeing it in my Dad’s handwriting that makes it extra-special, though.

Funny how the simplest note or even a voicemail becomes priceless to you when somebody that you love passes.

We can spend 15 minutes and produce something that someone will absolutely treasure for the rest of their lives.



ETA: Remember though…we oldsters may prefer to write in cursive however, cursive is no longer taught in schools and a lot of younger folks can’t read it!

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I set up an email address for my daughter (now 5) when she was an infant. I periodically write her little notes, telling her what she’s been up to in recent weeks, with humorous stories about her, and reminders of how much I love her. I will say there is something about seeing it in my Dad’s handwriting that makes it extra-special, though

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You are a good man.

I’m also doing this, but in a blog. I make a few posts a year with pics and video. My kids don’t know about it, but I am going to share it with them when they graduate high school. My mom kept a journal and did the same thing for me, and it was one of the best gifts I’ve ever received, so I’m trying to do that for my own kids.

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I still have voicemails from my parents who passed away.

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I keep a voicemail saved of my SO for the just in case.

My mom had a bunch of handwritten recipes from her mom that somehow disappeared. She was devastated.

She comes down to visit a few times a year. A few years ago I noticed a red notebook with the cookbooks in my kitchen. She snuck it in there and has been handwriting her recipes in it every visit.

Awesome story OP. Just such an amazing treasure to get to experience

We did the “email address for the kids” for my kids. Plan was to give them the email address when they are 18.

Started as a “we are going to share pictures/memories” email account, “here is the story of your first beach trip”.

After watching Gleason and the “video diary” he did, I now email once every 3 months. I write a very open, candid email about what is happening in our lives, our joys, our struggles, my insecurities, my advice, what I worry about for them, what I am proud of them for, memories that are special (and random pictures of us that will be lost in the 1000’s we take), etc.. It is less personal than a letter, but I often write pages, and I have terrible penmanship.

I hope I get to read them all with them one day. It will be funny, awkward, and hopefully helpful for them.

But if I don’t, that makes the “email diary” even more important to me…they would hopefully get to experience what the OP did.