Letters and Photos

I spent time in the last few days hunting for some old letters. When I lived in Venice, I wrote weekly to my Parents, and they (usually my Dad) sent me a response filled with news from home. I know where I've stashed the stack of letters my Dad wrote to me, but I cannot find the ones that I mailed to Mom and Dad.

I am frustrated by not finding these letters. Although I kept a diary while I was abroad, I'd now like to compare the letters to the diary. Wouldn't it be interesting to see, thirty years later, what I then decided to delete or embellish when I transitioned from personal diary to parental letter?

I've searched every box that might contain the letters. In the course of looking for those letters, I've stumbled on letters and notes from friends with whom I no longer keep in touch. The letters are more effective than a photograph at jolting me back to the flavor of a friendship.

Erlangen, Germany, 1947. My Mom, on the left, stands with two close medical-school friends. She has only a few photos of the close trio.