Memories in Lavender

She had not been expecting a letter. Since she kept up her personal and business correspondence through e-mail, the only mail Mrs. Green usually found delivered to her mailbox were bills and junk mail. Oh, there were the occasional birthday or Christmas cards from family and friends; but her husband even sent her electronically generated cards now for special occasions. "Greeting cards cost so much money," he would say.

Mrs. Green was a high school English teacher. With the advent of instant messaging and text messaging, she felt that proper writing in general had become a lost art. She tried to impress upon her students the importance of letter writing, feeling that it would be of great benefit to her students when job hunting. Having taught for only four years, she still felt strongly about using proper grammar and correct titles when corresponding. It showed respect to address someone as Dr., Mr., Mrs. or Ms. At 32, she didn't feel she was being old fashioned. Her father often bemoaned the fact that people "just don't know how to write letters anymore." As an employer, he felt that the cover letter was the first impression he had of a perspective employee and it had better be good. He felt the letter told more about the applicant than the resume.

When she went to the mailbox and found a handwritten letter, Mrs. Green was delighted. She decided to examine the envelope before opening the letter. The envelope was lavender colored and even had a slight lavender scent. Lavender being one of her favorite scents, she held the letter to her nose and sniffed for a few seconds. It reminded her of the last vacation she had been on with her husband. They had gone to Cape Cod and wandered through a variety of gift shops. The store they especially liked was a candle store where they bought some lavender scented candles. She was surprised to realize that that was two years ago. They hadn't been away together since then. "We'll have to do something about that," she thought.

The envelope paper was onion skin, the texture and weight of air mail letter paper. She liked the way it felt and sounded when she held it. It was quite thick, which excited her. "The writer has a lot to say to me," she thought. Perhaps it was from an old high school friend or a college roommate. There was no return address and the post mark was smudged and unreadable. She reveled in the suspense of the unopened letter, hopeful that it would spark a new friendship. Her husband traveled for work and she had to admit that she was lonely.
Lastly, she looked at the writing to see if she might recognize it. Maybe her husband had sent her a love letter. That would be a first but you never knew. As she examined the address more closely, her heart sank. It was not addressed to Mrs. George Green; but surely the "s" had been carelessly left off the "Mr." Clearly the letter was meant for her. She turned the envelope over and stared at the sealed flap. Hands shaking, she dropped the unopened letter on the table. She grabbed her car keys and went for a long drive.