Auntie Sinja sent me an email a few days ago offering me the letters my mom wrote to her that she saved over the years. There are two material things that I own that connect me to my mom: her engagement ring and a silver cross necklace that she gave me when I was in junior high or high school. After she passed away, Auntie Sinduk had come to my house to help us clean out my mom's belongings and found her diary but we don't know what happened to it. I did read it once but I always wished that I had kept it safely somewhere. To have my mom's words...to know her thoughts...to understand part of who she was...I didn't think this chance would come in my lifetime here on earth. What an unexpected blessing.