When I opened the envelope I found a soft bound book with a cover that featured blown up pictures of leaves in fall colors and the words "The Living Years" on the front.  When I opened the cover I found on the title page "The Living Years" and the author Rachael Garrity, aka my Mom.  I quickly thumbed through some pages and realized that this was the book on her family that Mom had been trying to write for years.  A couple of years ago at Christmas she'd given my brother and me binders with the first piece of the book, but we hadn't seen anything since.  Needless to say I was stunned to find 150 pages in soft bound glory in the package I opened.

Mom wrote a specific version for me and another for my brother and since the voice is first person and addressed directly to me it is incredibly intimate.  She begins with her grandparents and carries it through to 1972 which is when I was six.  She wanted to get it done by this week because this Tuesday would have been her Daddy's 100th birthday and the book is also meant to commemorate that event.

I've yet to get too far into it, but already I'm fascinated by my family's long ties to this area.  Family names include Motsinger, Mock (think Mocksville) and Sink.  Still, the most interesting aspect to me are the childhood stories about people I have only known as adults. It's a truly amazing heirloom combining Mom's memories, letters written between family members, poems written by my uncle and family pictures.  I think I'll be mining it for years to come and my simple call to thank her isn't nearly suitable as a gesture of appreciation.  I'm blown away.