The tea

 Dear John,

I forgot to tell you about your mom!  It seems there was a leak in her basement window, and the basement got quite a bit of water in it.  It must have been sitting for some time, because mold developed.  I think she discovered it just before Christmas - E's husband took care of the leak.  E took the opportunity to round up a dumpster and start cleaning out the basement.  You were always wanting to get a dumpster and throw all her stuff away - this would have been the best Christmas present for you.

I guess all the girls went over the day after Christmas to sort through stuff and throw things away.  C didn't make it down - I guess there was a blizzard where she lives and they decided against travelling.  I offered to let them stay with us, though I am glad she turned me down.  You know how your family thinks that the 30 minute drive to our house might as well be in Chicago or Canada.  Anyway, some of the junk has been tackled.  Finally.  

It seems your oldest niece had a vision of you.  You were at your mom's house, and everyone was there to share a meal.  She saw you there in the kitchen, and sitting across from her.  You were radiating happiness and laughed along with everyone.  No one could see you, except your niece.  She said you joked around with her in the way you normally would.  And then you put your arm around your mom and comforted her.  She said you wanted us to know that you were watching over all of us, and were with us in all our moments - happy and sad.  She also said you were wearing a brown sweater and jeans.  I sent her a copy of the photo from her mom's house from the year she was born - the one I have on my nightstand...where you're wearing your brown cashmere sweater.  I wear that a lot now - it has holes, but I only wear it at home.  She said that it was the exact sweater in her dream.

Then a couple days later, your SIL K said she had a dream that she was talking to your dad.  She said that he said someone is missing a key and that it was in a little brown box.  It was shoved in a box in a closet or basement or something.  The funny thing is, I had a hard time finding the key to the watch safe.  I did finally find it, in the basement, in a corner of the closet.  Not in a brown box, but I think there was one in the closet.  Too bad G was only a couple months late in sharing that info with K!  I found the key early in December.

Your daughter is trying to manipulate me - she takes after you in thinking that I'm a pushover.  She wants to drive to school once or twice a week.  She would use it as an excuse to pick up her friend and stop at Starbucks on the way to school.  I offered her a deal that she could drive the car 3 days per week, 2 destinations per day.  That would include working on the weekends.  It was a generous offer - she could earn extra destinations by doing chores.  She could gain an extra day by petitioning the school to offer sharing or parking spaces.  She did not care for that deal, and seemed mad that I would even suggest it.  She told me I was acting like you.  I had to remind her that, regardless of what she thought, you and I were on the same page on a lot of issues.  We might fight over the details, but the overall philosophy was the same.  She still refused the deal - she thinks that if she manages the girls' soccer team, I will have no choice but to let her drive to school.  She doesn't know how I react when people tell me I have to do something...

I think I've caught you up on all the gossip...

Love,

A