Holding Tight to Her Pen Momma Ruth was a perfectionist. She had beautiful handwriting; she always wrote in ink and never did those editing scratch-outs. It is beyond me how Ruth was able to complete her morning Rocky Mountain News crossword puzzle in ink.  Her completed puzzles looked too neat to become the liner in the waste basket. Everyone knew Mom for her handwritten Christmas or birthday card notes. She always included a note. Part of Momma’s method was to record all family member and friend birthdates and anniversaries in one calendar at the beginning of each year. You can imagine that after decades of making a yearly calendar, Ruth would have all birthdays and anniversaries memorized. She could remember how many years old or how many years married you were. Most people on Mom’s calendar were sent a card and a note. Mom actually made a birthday/anniversary calendar for each of her daughters—just in case we weren’t paying attention.  Ruth kept a written record of more than birth and anniversary dates. She had a spiral notebook that contained every card game played at her kitchen or dining room table. All players’ scores and the date of the game were written for anyone who wanted to review last week’s games of Threes or Michigan Rummy. There was indisputable evidence that Momma won allthree games of cards five Sundays ago. Momma Ruth graduated from Fort Lupton High School in 1943 and kept a record for her graduating classmates especially after they gathered for their 50th high school reunion. Change of addresses, telephone numbers, spouse names, and when classmates passed on can be found on Mom’s master list. Mom made sure to call one of her classmates just before she passed away. Ruth was the historian for Goode Centennial Methodist Church. Mom and Dad were charter members when the church began in a nearby elementary school in Commerce City, Colorado. Mom’s church scrapbooks include Easter and Christmas bulletins, graduation announcements, newspaper clippings about any of the church members, obituaries, and memorial cards. As you might have noticed, Ruth was careful to record as many celebrations in her life as she could. It’s amazing to think of all those friends and family who she remembered to write something for—for all those good memories she recorded for us. Ruth kept a journal in spiral notebooks through a good part of her married life. Sometimes she would read through her previous years of writing just to remember; she would refer to her journals, if we couldn’t remember details from several years back. Mom hand-wrote a detailed story about her growing up on the family farm, thanks to our cousin Lynelle’s effort to collect Funakoshi family stories. Mom was very attached to her Smith-Corona electric typewriter, refusing to give it away, even though she would rather hand-write than type. As her arthritis became more pronounced, her handwriting became more laborious; but she held on to her ink pen and her perfect penmanship rather than try the typewriter or computer keyboard. Mom allowed us to type her last two Christmas newsletters; Mom would dictate the basics. We thought a standard newsletter would help Mom out—her right arm and shoulder would bruise after writing letters for too long a time. All she had to do was to sign each copy of her Christmas letter. Once mom settled in to writing her Christmas cards,she wrote a paragraph in each card anyway! Hand written letters seem to be a thing of the past. Now we might cherish one of Ruth’s letters that we find buried in a file drawer or in our box of greeting cards. Phyllis Theroux wisely said: “To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart.”