Dear Guillianna and Elijah –
Hopefully you have had an excellent fourth and first grade year. Crazy to think that it is coming to a close pretty soon. We are hopeful you have continued to love school and learned so many new things ! The end of a school years makes me think of the letters Poppy and Nana would write to each of you at the end of each school year. We gave them to mom , and Mom was supposed to be saving them for you. Hopefully that will be a promise kept. The love letters for now will be sent via this site will one day eventually they will get to you, and you’ll know the how proud we are of all you do. The academic success and the personal victories you experience not only in this year, but through the future will be many and our hearts are with you all along the way. You will learn that you’ll both be rewarded by your own efforts and self worth.
We may not be able to see, or are not “allowed” to know how amazing you two are doing in the present moment but believe in this, we we do know YOU, for the reality is that for all but these past months of your lives, we have watched aided and grew with you , every step of your lives. We were able to bond with you as you grew in our home, and yes you were both happy, full of laughter and had so much fun . The mere idea that any person ever would twist or turn that into something less is beyond sad. We have to believe It has happened without full understanding of what this kind of elimination and manipulative action will do to your minds in the future. The reality is history has proven that emotional withdrawal has the potential to carry with it life long trauma without given the knowledge, tools or understanding that are needed to cope. We continue to hope somehow that your memories will not be altered to believe you were unhappy. It is possible to love and respect your mom and dad, to understand they had been gone so long and simply wanted very much to reconnect and bond with their children, as well as have us as grandparents in your lives. We will always believe that seeing the love you had for us as your grandparents must have been somehow very threatening to them, enough so that the fear it created , allowed the events of these past months to ever happen .
It will eventually be clear to you and hopefully them, that what they have chosen as an acceptable way to behave to your family, your parents, and every single relative in the family, to cut people out of your life, because somehow they all so bad so evil so worthless that you are justified in treating them as if they are meaningless? Is not what they would want you to do with them , so the only way to make it seem justified is to say we somehow deserve it. This was so unnecessary- the truth will always be , that letting you have a Nana and Poppy in your lives was a good joyful and valuable, special time. To actually have value for people who have dedicated themselves to the lives of others , is a foreign concept for some. The concept that for a time you were able to enjoy as much as humanly possible the days and nights spent for nine( and six) years, in their absence , could one day become a reality. Yes it would take a great deal if helo maturity and counsel likely but to believe the heart of a traumatized child, can be healed is even more important than ever ! Since the day we adopted our children, we hoped that the childhood trauma could be healed, that children who had no control over their lives, lost people they loved and grew up around, family friends and the people who cared for them and raised them for many years, all disappeared from their lives – and the legacy of that trauma is beyond anything my words could ever do justice to. We will hope for our children to learn before more pain and sorrow consumes future adult lives.
We will hope that he honest and true idea of how we as mommy’s parents tried to help her, could eventually set in. She could learn it was a wonderful time for you both, to have special memories and life long love and support from your grandparents and every single person around you that supported her service /duty. The fact that your mom was fulfilling this duty she contracted to do, her promise to keep you in the best possible school for as long as she could move you as little as possible , to provide you medical insurance, the love of family and that our extended family would all surround you, and provide you the opportunity for a college education, is all true ….. and we honored that 100 percent . They contracted to do a job for the Army , mom always kept the promises made to serve and provide for you, we were fortunate to be able to help her and serve you both and help provide as well, as much as we could, to give you everything possible as your grandparents – for many years . We dedicated ourselves 100 percent to all of you . It was NOT ever bad, OR unhappy, it was never unkind and it was absolutely … NOT wrong for you to love us how you did, and not wrong to love the life you had in the Mitten. There was no reason for you to ever feel you had to choose between pleasing mom and dad to dislike or bolster any kind of untruth, and loving your grandparents but yet it seems that is what has happened – and for that we will always wish that our own daughter had seen that people in her life have value. Substantial value. That turning you both against your childhood is a travesty. Her own grandparents, her own siblings, her own neices and nephews – how we treat other people is evident through your years . We believe she had pressure that in your future will be able more clearly see, her life and events in her life backed her into a choice she made that one day will surely be regrettable for her. The stories or inuendo – the mind control , To justify this most recent change is your lives, in you’re not being allowed to talk to us , see us , visit with us, are the reason we write . To assure you that we will stand behind the love you’ve felt for us, the love we will always feel for you . We have no doubt that the truths of who we are and what life was , are or have been redesigned to destroy your bond with us. Sadly tho there is a consequence The human interactions you have had all your lives are not tossed aside without significant trauma and our love letters are written to reinforce, and validate the sense of love you always have known from us and these images and words are preserved for you to build upon as adults who will one day try to make sense of all that has been seemingly lost. Love from us as people who wish you every happiness and opportunity, every dream and many more years with family and friends, is an emotion that we want you to always know. We wish life for each of you , becomes so more more than you ever imagined. You will have these words to remind you that we will always be cheering for you to be happy healthy and full of love – and that the worry you could one day feel for decisions that were made for you , is lifted. We can not replace what you will have been denied , or heal the heartbreak , but we can tell you how the courage and strength it has taken for you to cope and adapt can be utilized as a positive.
We hope you will one day read and re read these words. Take all of the documents we have left for our children and grand children and live the story of love you’ve been granted because people all around you love. Love will always bring more to your lives than hate ever could.
We love you both to the moon and back ,
forever and for always,
XOXOXOXOXOXO
❤️Nana and Poppy❤️?