To:Jesse James

262 Estes Park Road
Loveland, Colorado
Feb 14, 1966

Dear Jesse James,
I have watched your show. I think it is the best show their is. If you have time, would you please write to me. I've watched every show you've had. Please ask the man that plays Frank to write to me if he has time. If you ever come to my house, to hide from people that may be after you, I would hide you. I hope you will write back. I hope your show will go on for ever. I am a girl, but I act like a boy. I'm going to be just like you.
Love,
Patty Proctor

P.S I think you make a neat Jesse James and I think if you want to come and see me we could make room.

[This was written by my mother when she was 11 years old. She was writing to the actor who played Jesse James, a notorious American outlaw who robbed banks and trains. I can just picture my mother's 11 year old self lying on the floor, feverishly writing away to this outlaw, inviting him to come stay at her house:) I especially love the part when she informs him that she is a girl but she acts like a boy!]

I have been looking through my mother's childhood photo albums and baby books lately. It is fascinating to see the pictures and watch my mother transform into the beautiful, strong woman she is today.


Our mothers are more than just "moms." Weird huh?
It is strange to think that they were once young like us, once naive, and just as lost and confused as we are now. They did not always hold the role and responsibility as they do now- finders of lost socks, solvers of all problems big and small.

As I have grown older, my relationship with my mom has morphed and changed into something I have grown to cherish.
Sure, during high school we had those rough patches that most mothers and daughters go through, and I still feel guilty for the Hell I know I often put her through, but we survived, even flourished- and now we have made it to this place where we are more than just mother and daughters. We are best friends that can share in the struggle and joy that is being a woman.

I have come to appreciate the advice my mother gives me because I know she was once in my position. She too had heartbreaks, she too learned the hard way, she too felt lost and alone and didn't know how she would make it through. But she did, and she is stronger because of it.

I do not want to be my mother one day. I want to be me....but she has helped shape me into the person that I am today, and the person that I will become. We all have a piece of our mothers inside of us. There is no separation between us and them. They live inside of us.

I am my mother's daughter, and I could not be more grateful.