Dear Nellie,
I purchased a postcard you wrote that was postmarked in 1910 from an antique store here in Virginia. You had sent it from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara, California, yet it found its way here, all the way to me on the East Coast over a hundred years later. It was addressed to a Mr. A.J. Peterson. It's a lovely postcard with a painting of a man driving a horse and buggy carrying a few passengers. Remember it?
Now that I am in the possession of this postcard, I can't help but wonder about you. Who were you and what were you like? Were you a young single woman when you wrote this card who went to parties and dances or perhaps you were married with children and spent warm sunny days at the park with your family? Maybe you were a little older and had never married at all and lived an unconventional life supporting yourself with work and were free to travel. Or maybe traveling wasn't an opportunity afforded to you but --still-- you dreamt of it.
You have beautiful penmanship Nellie. Were you able to get a good education? Did you read books and the newspaper? Did you ever voice your opinion on politics, the suffragette movement, or religion? Did you like music and the arts? Did you attend church on Sunday mornings and did you ever look upon the stars at night and felt with all your heart that God exists and was watching over you? Did you treasure little trifles such as ribbons, fancy hair clips, scented soaps, and silk gloves? Did you cross stitch by the fire and cook on a wood stove? Did you ever suffer from hunger or abuse or sickness; or was your life generally good? Or did you suffer from all of these things and still find good in your life?
Who was Mr. Peterson to you? Was he someone you much admired and in love with? Nellie, who did you love in life and did you marry him and grow old with him? Or did you secretly love someone else besides your husband whom you met prior to getting married and go to your grave with that secret? Did you have a great love or possibly two? And did they love you in return?
Were you content with your life or did you want more? And did you eat plum pudding during the holidays and pick berries in the summer months? I know I'm bombarding you with questions you can never answer, but I imagine you have a good story and a life vastly different from mine, but perhaps we have somethings in common.
Well, whoever you are Nellie, I hope that when you lived whether you enjoyed books, travel, or dancing that you found happiness and that you loved with all your heart and that your love was reciprocated and cherished to the end. And most importantly, I hope you felt the love of God.
Yours truly,
Olivia McGuire
