Dear Daughters

Dear Daughters,

I hope some day very, very soon you have the time and the space to dig in the dirt. It has become one of the great pleasures of my life. Today I planted tomato plants while country western music played on the radio. I danced and dug.

I want to be able to say to a friend or neighbor, “Do you need any tomatoes?” I want to be able to make my all time favorite Mills meal of beans, cornbread, and sliced tomatoes.

This old time menu will have a little valley twist to it. We’ll have Dad’s frijoles a la charra instead.

Mr. Segura, the gentleman who remodeled the little house, built me the box. He dropped it off one day as a surprise. He calls me Maestra (teacher). I like that very much.

I wanted to ‘paint the barn’ , as your great-grandmother used to say, so I added this.

This just may work out well.

We’ll see. Remember when I used to say that to you when you were little and you asked if you could do something?

Have a wonderful week.

Love, Mom