Discovering treasures of no monetary value.

I have a treasure box. It is a wooden box with a latch and inside are my most valuable possessions. It is not of monetary value like gold, silver or coins. What is inside the box are my very special letters from my grandmother, my son’s undershirt when he was a new born that I took on a couple of adventures, a few photos from my village and a couple of other letters from people who are no longer with us. Priceless!

So first official day of parental leave today and I am up at 6:00am. I think I have to really tell myself that I seriously need to sleep in. Well, getting up so early and not allowed to go into my work emails, so I look for other opportunities to fill my time. This morning, the house was quiet, I made a comforting cup of tea and I opened up the wooden box with my letters and I wound up reading some of the letters inside.

Growing up, my grandmother (Aji), lived in England. We would write letters back and forth and one thing I would never do is throw her letters away. She passed away in 1982 and I still have her letters. It is comforting to have her letters and her words have meaning. She is still with me. I have always said we should be writing letters to each other as it is a vanishing art. Emails just don’t have the personality and charm of a letter. Having the letters and seeing a snapshot of your life back years ago is pretty amazing. It is a piece of your history.

One thing my grandmother wrote years ago was: “You will grow up to be a great man.” To this day, I reflect on what she wrote. It is not a challenge for me from her and I don’t go through life saying I am a great man. Instead, when she wrote this, it has always been a reminder to me that I should search out and do good things. I need to be a great man, not in my eyes, but in the eyes of those around me. I also don’t see the term, ‘great man’ as someone of status who is unapproachable but rather someone who is an average guy with extraordinary experiences.

For the people who do know me, there is also something she wrote on my birthday in 1981 when I was a 1st year student in university…”and you still have no job. Don’t worry about job, once you start work, then no stop.” Now isn’t that the truth! I have never stopped. My grandmother had hindsight ?

I am also a proactive letter writer. Before my first son Ishaan was born, I wrote him a letter when I was at the Ottawa airport. With the arrival of my second child in two weeks, I wrote a letter to Little Bean (don’t know boy or girl) when I was in England. They are not to open this till years later. I think for anyone who is going to have children, write them a letter before they are born.

So lesson learned and a challenge? Go out, start writing letters, keep the letters and years later, read them and reflect on the importance in the words. You will find deep hidden meaning in your life and it is never too late to start. It is as simple as finding someone you care about, writing them a letter and sending it off. Hopefully they are also of writing nature so it goes back and forth. For me, I lost a treasure when my Aji passed away years ago; however, I still have some of the jewels in the form of her words in letters.