On Wednesday I finally got out the two fat file folders of all the letters I’ve received from all the YLCF subscribers over the years. I had packed them in my extra suitcase in hopes that Natalie would help me decide which ones to toss, which ones to save.We admired Bethany and Abigail’s beautiful handwriting, we enjoyed once again all the quotations Maggie had submitted, and we laughed at the gushing enthusiasm of self-proclaimed “fans”. We couldn’t bear to throw away some of the letters. There was a bit of “hate mail”, too—“that picture was too scandalous,” “you shouldn’t be discussing politics,” and “I don’t want my daughter to even read about dating.” I saved one or two, just to remember I had my share of unhappy subscribers (the difference was that reading them now, I laughed—reading them at first receipt, I nearly cried).
Natalie was helpful in discarding the letters we didn’t want to keep. She tossed them onto the floor, where cats Arwen and Nero have spent the last two days playing with them, until such a time as we bothered to take the above picture.
Then yesterday morning, we delved into even older history—the days before the YLCF, when it was only a little girls’ club called Purry Kittens, and I was only 8 years old. Natalie adored the maps of our secret forts, laughed at our club song (which had an uncanny resemblance to the Awana theme song), and laughed at our secret languages. We even had a flag, and let our brothers be “Kitten Guards” (complete with contracts they signed and ranks they earned!).You could almost feel the evolution from girls club to ministry. You could almost see me growing from girlishness to womanhood.
But those were the days of yesteryear. I was just 8 when I started the Purry Kittens Christian Girls Club in 1991. It became the Young Ladies Christian Fellowship in 1997. Now it’s 2006, and I’m passing the baton to Natalie, as the YLCF merges with HeartThoughts Publications.
We’re growing up. We’re moving forward. But sometimes, it’s fun to look at the past for a few moments, and remember all that God has taught us along the way. That’s why I’m taking a (much slimmer) file of letters home in my suitcase. To remember.
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4 comments:
oh... how sweet! would you two ever consider writing a post on your early days together - in more detail than this?
glad that you are having a good time together... especially walking down memory lane! i am a huge fan of remembering the 'old days' and look at special momentos from those times!
blessings - nicole c.
Nicole, did you want to know more about the early days of Purry Kittens etc. (of which I was not a part--I didn't meet Gretchen until 1999) or...? please elaborate.
Natalie for Gretchen who is packing :)
"Kitten Guards," eh? I shall have to ask Will about that when next I see him at PHC.
In general, there was something very sweet and innocent about the homeschooling movement a decade ago. I'm spending this semester researching the history of homeschooling, and your post reminds me of the general "feel" a decade ago. It's not the same any more. There was a whole slew of newsletters for the youth of our generation - mostly the girls. Whatever happened to all of them? The publishers grew up, and no new ones sprung up in their place. Why didn't they? Is it because of the Internet? Have things changed that much in so few years? I don't know, but sometime I would like to look into it a bit more.
I ran my own newsletter for a year when I was 10 and 11. It was quite different from yours, I'm afraid; it only had 34 subscribers, which possibly explains my lack of "hate mail." :) My monthly missive was entitled StoryTeller. It included everything from science fiction (mine) to a spoof, the "Hardly Brothers," on the Hardy Boys (my older brother's) to whatever writing of any sort I could talk people into letting me include. Ah yes. *sigh* Those were the good old days. ;)
i tried having a (very, very, very, very small) family (literally) magazine once every Saturday. I'd have clips on each of my immediate family, make one "issue" and present it to my father. i think the way it turned out there was maybe six sporadic "printings". (It was hand-written, by the way.) I admire you two for your perserverence - is that how you spell that? - and thoroughly enjoy what the YLCF has become.
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