Karen (in CT)'s Writing Team - February 17

Write to Karen.

Age: 60s + 70s
Requested by: Granddaughter
Location: Connecticut, USA
Issue: Self-Confidence

What’s going on? My grandmother is an amazing Christian woman. She has endured so much in her life. She had five children, but at 17 years old, she was forced to give up her first baby for adoption after a week in the hospital bonding with him, under the threat of homelessness. Even after complying, she was kicked out by her stepfather, a pastor. Her mother constantly told her she didn’t love her and has struggled to see her worth all her life.

She spent much of her life as a caregiver, looking after her husband’s mother, her own mother, my cousins, me, and more than seven of us kids during some summers and all throughout the year—on top of all the people she cared for in nursing. No matter what she faced, she was always there for others.

Now, in her later years, she faces serious health challenges and lives with her autistic husband, who barely notices her or mocks her. All of her siblings have passed away. With limited mobility and confined to a wheelchair, she hasn’t seen her horses in years. In constant pain, she struggles with a deep sense of loss and lack of purpose.

What do you love most about this girl? She loves animals—dogs, cats, goats, and birds, especially her parakeets—and her passion for horses has always been a significant part of her life. In addition to being incredibly strong and brave, she’s endlessly creative and well-organized, qualities that earned her the well-deserved Betty Crocker Homemaker Award in high school. As a grandmother, she’s fantastic, and I feel truly blessed to know her so deeply. A devoted Christian, she loves the Lord and has been teaching me about tithing. To call her generous would be an understatement; despite being taken advantage of in many ways, she never stops giving.

Anything else you want to tell us? She feels abandoned by much of her family. In this fast-paced world, many of her children are too busy to take the time to talk with her or reconcile the past, where they felt she was too tough on them. She raised me too, and yes, she was tough, but only because she truly loves us. I understand how everything she’s been through shaped her into someone who wore a lot of armor. Now, she’s shed so much of that armor, but her children won’t give her the chance to show them who she has become—a person who has always been loving at her core but is now softer around the edges.

She needs to lose some weight to qualify for surgery that would help her walk again, but finding the motivation is challenging. Food is one of her few remaining comforts, and she has limited support for her self-care journey.

I want her to know she is loved. She has never felt like she is “home,” but she belongs here and is worthy of loving herself with the same love that God has for her.

Write your letter and get it in the mail within one week to The Letter Project at P.O. Box 218, Kingsville, MO 64061. We’ll take it from there! You can place multiple letters in one envelope, as long as each letter/card clearly identifies the letter recipient.

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