What people are saying
In their own words
These are the reasons people give for sitting down to write. Names are shortened and details kept vague, because the letters themselves are private and always will be.
“My daughter stopped going to church years ago. I have never known how to say what I believe without it turning into an argument. So I wrote it down — not to convince her, just to tell her what it means to me and that I will be thinking of her.”
Sarah R.
Tennessee
“Both of my kids walked away from the faith in college. I do not blame them. But if the day comes, I want them to have a letter from me — not a sermon, just a father explaining where he went and that he loved them the whole time.”
Marcus K.
Georgia
“I wrote to my sister. We have not spoken in four years. Some things are easier to put in a letter than to say out loud, and this way she will hear it when it matters most.”
Diane W.
Ohio
“I am not a man who says much out loud. My wife knows I love her, I think, but she has never heard me put it in words. Now she will, whenever that day comes, in a letter she can hold.”
Thomas H.
Texas
“My son and I argue about everything. What I wanted him to have was not another argument but the plain fact that I am proud of him and always have been. It is written now, and I feel lighter for it.”
Ruth A.
Michigan
“At seventy-one you start to think about the things you never got around to saying. I wrote to each of my grandchildren by name. Whatever they make of my faith, they will know their grandfather thought of them at the end.”
Gerald P.
Kansas
“My husband does not believe the way I do, and I have stopped pushing. But I could not leave without telling him where I hope we will meet again. Writing it was the gentlest way I could find.”
Nadia F.
Florida
“I carry guilt over how I treated a friend years ago. I never made it right. This let me finally write the apology properly, and know that he will read it even if I never work up the nerve in person.”
Caleb M.
North Carolina
“I am a widow with no children nearby. I wrote to my neighbours, who have been kinder to me than most family. I wanted them to know that their kindness was seen, and that I was ready.”
Evelyn S.
Oregon