300+ Love Letters for Jane

This holiday season, you wrote from all across the globe to encourage Jane - a woman struggling under the weight of anxiety and grief.

Jane’s daughter, Karen, wrote us to share her mom’s story.

“My mom has struggled with depression and anxiety all her life, but the past two and a half years have been particularly challenging. She lost her husband just as the world was shutting down due to the pandemic, so it was a very difficult process.

While we were able to spend time with him as he passed, outside of immediate family, no others were allowed at the strictly outdoor service and we could not have the traditional shiva. We may have been one of the first funerals to stream on Facebook so that our loved ones could participate. My mom then had the stress of clearing out and selling the home they had been in for 30-plus years and then moving to a condo. While she has children and grandchildren to help her and who love her, she has been at one of her lowest points ever during this period.”

Jane had been trying very hard to find her good place—or at least a better place—again. She had rejoined the activities she took part in before the pandemic, but each day was hard and carried its own challenges, as she now had the burden of doing everything on her own. Her main source of company was her 13 year old dog, which her family feared wouldn’t be around much longer, either.

“It is hard for my mom to focus on the many positives in her life - her health, her family, her beautiful new home, and her many friends,” Karen wrote. “She is almost always in a state of anxiety and beats herself up for the things she's not able to complete on her own…I think it would have an enormous impact on her to receive encouraging, supportive, and empathetic messages of positivity and love from a variety of people.”

Jane’s 77th birthday was quickly coming up, and Karen thought there was no better way to ring in a new year—a fresh start—than with an overflow of encouragement—and she was right.

As a part of the 12 Days of Love Letters campaign, over 300 love letters poured in from all over the world—Canada, Germany, France, even Japan! Letters from young children to high school students to families, seniors, and everything in between, all wishing Jane a very happy 77th birthday.

(P.S. This picture does not do justice to how many letters I've received on behalf of my mom! If I put them in a stack they are probably at least 3-4 feet high. Unreal!!!)

Your words of kindness were overwhelming.

“Honestly, I don't have the words to explain this experience, but I'm going to try,” said Karen when she wrote to us. “I have truly been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, admiration, encouragement, kindness, hope, and joy for my mom that has come from the army of More Love Letters writers. I had no idea how much of an impact reading these letters would have on me, not to mention how they will touch my mom when I give them to her.

Included in many of the letters--some of which were beautifully handmade--were joyful stickers, thoughtful bookmarks (I had mentioned my mom was in multiple book clubs), poems, and many excellent suggestions for ways to find joy in each day or to calm anxious feelings. There were also notes that included references to me and it really touched me beyond belief. I have definitely cried some happy tears reading these beautiful and caring thoughts.

Every day, I thought it would be the last stack of letters, but then the next day another stack came, and then the day after that. I cannot even pick up the oversized gift bag where I have been placing the letters. The post office despises me :-)))) Before giving them to my mom, I sorted them by size and color - see the picture attached. She is going through the stacks slowly but surely and finding so many meaningful words in them. What an incredible way for her to start her 77th year!”

Karen wrote, “I am so glad I took a leap and decided to do this and I cannot wait to share these letters with my mom.”

”Thank you to all More Love Letter writers. You're really making a difference in people's lives.”