 |
June 26, 2008 |
|
 |
|
|
Dear Mom
FOUND by Jen
in camp
I'm a counselor at a camp and I found this on the floor after all the campers left.
Sign in or register to start a profile and keep track of your comments. You may also post without creating a profile, but you'll have to answer some tough spam protection questions.
If These Items Fit January 10, 2006 |
Do the Patients Care? October 11, 2005 |
I Am on to You November 13, 2005 |
Warning February 09, 2006 |
 |
|
 |
         |
We collect FOUND stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids' homework,
to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, telephone bills, doodles -
anything that gives a glimpse into someone
else's life. Anything goes...
» We're hopping on a plane and jetting to Europe for our Fall 2008 Euro Tour!
» Join Peter Rothbart for his mini-tour of the Pacific Northwest
Sympathetic Comment: I feel for this child.
Sarcastic Comment: Evidently this camp is out of range of a cell tower.
I think this is one of the counselors, not kids
that is just heartbreaking, no matter who it is.
What does one say to that? What CAN one say to it? I will pray for the writer, that she can find peace.
I'd be upset too if I'd been dropped off at "stupid camp" when I was little.
I agree with Effie; the handwriting has too many personal quirks to be that of a child.
That being said, this is a heart wrenching note, that was never meant to be sent since the writer doesn't know where Mom is. Perhaps the writer was working through issues brought about from being left at camp long ago and stirred up by comforting a little one in the here and now that also felt abandoned by the one they needed the most.
*Sob*
All internet personas aside - this make me want to cry.
I bet Mom has no clue as to who "R" even is.
IMO, "R" is a quirky capital "I" where the pen never picks up between making the top slash and the one on the bottom.
What if dad killed mom when the kid was five, chopped her up and buried her under the back porch? And told the kid that Mom left because s/he was naughty?
Holy cow this is a sad one. But I don't think it says "when R left." I think the writer just has a funky way of making the letter I. (if you look at the rest of those letters that are unmistakable the letter I.. yep.) Such a grandiose way of forming the letter I looks like some sort of compensation for lack of belief in or esteem for "I." (or something.)
This one's easily just as sad as that one sent up on a balloon.
Some moms just suck. Especially ones that ditch their kids. Glad I'm not one of them.
I don't know if it's such a good thing for the writer to find his/her mom, but i hope that writing this helped her on her way to happiness. Sometimes writing things down helps you let go.
Brat.
Give camp a chance man, mom needs a break.
R = I
I'm pretty sure it's a kid's letter to dead Mom in heaven, or wherever. I actually thought that was pretty obvious...am I just the only one willing to state the obvious today?
Captain Obvious, I mean Flargy, I thought the mom had died, as well.
Next month, I'm leading some drum circles at a camp for kids who have lost a parent or sibling.
I don't even know what to say about that.
I'd say you should probably get some really durable drum heads.
Flargy and Curious, the last line "Always pray so god will help you too" seems to imply that the write thinks Mom is still among the living. Unless passed souls can still pray and be helped by God. Is that possible? Does it work like that? These are actual questions not rhetoric.
Hmm. It doesn't make sense: "or at least give me signs of where you are or when you are talking" doesn't indicate to me that the Mom has passed onto the great unknown beyond. Mom moved with her biker boyfriend, Steve, to Cleveland.
I can't imagine why any MOTHER would or how she COULD leave her child. Really. Unfathomable.
But if and when it happens, I'd think that, ultimately, the (abandoned!) child is far better off, whether they know it or not.
Freonz, I don't believe that it works like that for anyone, dead OR living. But given the apparent intellect and mentality of the note writer, I would guess that he's not giving all that much thought to religious philosophy.
I'm agreeing with FLARGY and CURIOUS on this one, too. Also, R=I...very obvious.
I believe this author has grown up and now either works at a Camp, or, the memories of camp have triggered some emotions that have had to come out, and, when you've got no one to confide in, writing these feelings and emotions down on paper, truly do help.
Just as school lets out, this child was so overwhelmed with joy and happiness, "Oh, spending some of the summer with Mom is going to be so groovy and fantastic!"
Then, the poor child is told by Mother that h/she will be attending Summer Camp and it would be more than Mother could ever provide(since being busy with work, her other children, etc...) for him/her over the Summer Holidays. At that moment...the precious tween feels a hard, poignant pain in their chest, not to mention the mounds and swirls of emotions mounting through the tween's body (most likely from puberty/PMS) making him/her feel weak and run to their room. Abandonment(<-sp?) at it's highest...especially for this child.
Anyway, now that I've made this a Chapter, I will now fini.
Bacically, in a nutshell, the author needed and wanted their Mother then, and evidently needs and wants their Mother now.
I'm going with the theory that Mother has passed on, but, when the author needs to get things out, writing their emotions down in their Diary or Journal, is easier and makes it feel like they're talking to his/her Mother.
The reason I think the Mother has passed on, is because the author is pleading with their Mother to talk to him/her in any way, shape, or form.
Also, if Mother keeps Praying hard enough to God, then maybe God will let Mother show or talk to the author....
**SHRUGS**
My apologies for such a lloonngg post!!
Since when did R become the new I?? I am so out of date!!
Maybe mums in a coma? that kind of seems to fit more than dead or absent. Car accident on the way back from taking child to camp? That would be so tragic. Big row bout not wanting to go to camp, then "crash".
When I first glanced at the last line, I thought it said, "Always pray so god will hate you too". God hates it when you bother him with your petty crap.
Turbo, you're a weirdo. :-)
This is just how teenagers feel, but will never admit it.
I imagine that this is an adolescent, up late at night and alone, thinking about the mom who abandoned her/him long ago. He/she wrote this note to comfort his/herself. I do this sort of thing an awful lot.
I took the last two lines as "I always pray so God will help you to give me signs of where you are, or how you're trying to communicate with me."
Durable drum heads, indeed. Last year, I took a circle into a treatment center for violent offendors... teens, that is. Oy! We had us some drumming that day!
The author is not yet an adult, but is no longer a small child. His mother died when he was young.
Nothing is sadder than a motherless child. I hope he finds a way to "hear" his mother. There's always dreams. It's about the only time I can talk to my mother now.
Curious, referring to
Next month, I'm leading some drum circles at a camp for kids who have lost a parent or sibling.
Whats upsetting about a kid losing a grandparent or sibling is watching the parent out of control with grief. However, a parent is a different ball of wax and I'm assuming you've been there. Good luck.
Turbo you are a weird Okey.
poor kid...it sucks that he's like one of the million kids that feel that way too.
This is so sad, I feel so bad that her mom left her, I hope she finds her some day.
It seems to me that this kid-teen-adult's Mom left them a long time ago, perhaps even gave up for adoption/foster care? Whatever - I agree with chillin, some Moms just suck
If I'd ever been at camp, this could've been my note. I'll keep this poor kid in my thoughts.
Turbo, I also first read, "so God will hate you too." It was jolting, but not completely out of context. Then I realized it said "help."
I think her Mom is Susan Powter, who abandoned the baby to pursue her motivational speaking career - the child wants to know when she's going to be in town giving a seminar... and wants Susan to know that God can help her, too...
Anyone?
I hope this is just a rough draft the writer lost and they eventually got their feelings out and mailed it to their mom. She needs to hear this.
I agree that the "R" is a capital I. I know somebody who writes their I's like that and it bugs the crap out of me.
I must be evil, or deal with sad things by finding something funny, because all I could think is that some kids get to go to Space Camp, or Pony Camp, or Band Camp, and this poor kid had to go to Stupid Camp.
I'd be mad at mom, too.
Oh great. I will be supervising at a camp later this summer. I hope I don't find a similar note laying around when the kids have gone.
I have no idea what happened to this kid's Mum, but with regards the "some mums just suck" bit - sure some do, but it's also certainly not unheard of to make these stories up - they have a missing persons show in Australia and that is often the story told to the children ("Mum left you"), whereas with time it gets a bit obvious that the Mum is actually dead (often courtesy of Dad). In a more famous case:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2006/10/14/1
"FREDERICK William Boyle always claimed his wife, Edwina, ran off 23 years ago with a truck driver known only as "Ray" and was living under an assumed name...Boyle, 57, was charged on Friday with murdering Edwina...He was arrested at his Dandenong workplace by homicide detectives shortly before 5pm on Friday after bones were allegedly found in a wheelie bin in the backyard of his home in Denis Court, Carrum Downs.An inquest held in 1994 into Mrs Boyle's suspected death was told she had disappeared from her Dandenong home on October 6, 1983, leaving behind her husband and two young daughters, Careesa and Sharon."
@LIZ- Very sad...we hear way too much of this crap.
Lara is right. This kid went to stupid camp. Mom left him there and he's mad. That's all. Mom's not dead; this kid just wishes she was. Also, the grammar sucks.
Besides, if mom really is gone and/or dead, this kid'll be okay; he's got sympathy on his side, obviously.
Hallo Muddah...
hallo Faddah...