Interdisciplinary Psychology:

            When I was a little kid my favorite person was my grandmother. Hands-down, no questions asked she was one of the coolest grandmas a kid could have. She did all the normal grandma stuff like read to me, she bought me toys, and she would always give me one or two more cookies then I was suppose to have… you know, grandma stuff. She also went above and beyond in a lot of ways.  From the moment I heard that we were going to do this assignment in class I knew that my Grandma was the one who should get my letter.

            I don’t believe in fate however I do believe in opportunity so when opportunity presents its self I normally jump at it. See, my Grandmother lives in California and part of this assignment was that our gratitude letters had to be read in person. I had accepted the fact that I would have to choose someone else when I got a call informing me that my grandparents were taking a trip to Alaska and in result would be having a 3-hour layover in Seattle. I told my grandma that I would love to drive up to the airport and have lunch with them and that I had something for her so be ready. She laughed and said “alright, I’m not sure what that means but I’ll see you then.”

            When I met my grandparents they weren’t in the best of moods. They had spent all day dealing with flight delays and all the other pitfalls of traveling. We ate lunch and after listening to them vent their frustrations for a while my grandmother remembered what I had said a few days earlier. “So what is this thing you say you have for me?" I smiled and said, “well, this might seem rather unprecedented but I’m going to read you this letter I wrote you.” My grandma looked confused, “but it’s a letter, shouldn’t I just read it.” I explained it was something for class and she said, “Fine, fine, fire away.”

            Now Mark had for-warned all of us that these letters tend to make the recipients cry. This made me feel a little uncomfortable seeing as that to the best of my knowledge I had never made my grandma cry before. As I began to read I kept checking my grandma’s eyes for tears, “so far so good I thought” my grandma was beaming with joy but no tears yet. I thought I would make through the whole letter tearless, but once I got to the part where I explained how grateful I was that her and my grandpa decided even before I was born to start saving so that their grandson could go to college it was all over. I explained how much it ment to me that two people that had never set foot on a college campus knew that higher education was something they wanted for me even if that ment never receiving it themselves. I explained how no one has ever believed in me as much as they have and how when school has gotten tough not letting them down has been one of the things that has kept me focused.  

            By the time I was done reading I was crying, my grandma was crying, and my grandpa was pretending really had to not be crying. My grandma hugged me and said that my letter was her new prized possession.  We decided then and there that even though I was 23 that didn’t mean I was to old for a weekend at grandma’s house. This spring break rather then taking off to get drunk with strangers in a warmer climate I decided that I would fly down to California to spend it with my Grandparents.

            This was a really powerful activity and to say I’m glad I did it would be an understatement. It’s made me realize there are a few more people in my life that need letters like this. Hopefully everyone else’s experience went just as well.