in family, Portugal, The Fourth Year 66 Words

Throwback Thursday – Aerograms: Letters From Portugal

Due to the cost of phone calls, most of our news to family and friends arrived by letters. Aerogrammes helped ease the fiscal burden as well. My wonderful mother-in-law saved a great many of the letters we wrote, and today’s Throwback Thursday features an aerogram sent to the in laws right after we had moved to Loures. Without further ado, I give you, the aerogram.

aerogram

aerogram 2

aerogram 3

aerogram 4

 

63 thoughts on “Throwback Thursday – Aerograms: Letters From Portugal”

  1. Very cool! I remember Air Mail from dad when he was stationed in Taiwan prior to our joining him!

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      1. I was only 10-11, but remember liking the market place a lot! Not the typhoons so much.

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  2. I liked the days when we sent letters rather than making phone-calls. As you’ve just shown, they’re a fantastic reminder of what was happening at a particular time. I still have loads of letters that I got from friends and family when I worked away from home for a while when I was a teenager – I don’t read them often but when I do, it’s as if I’m transported right back to those days…

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    1. Thanks for coming by to see it. We always looked forward to hearing from family. It’s hard to find someone who will use snail mail anymore. Scarce like real conversation.

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      1. Yep. Don’t I know. That is why I deliberately start conversations.

        Prayer Request. My Rocky is again sick. He is going to the vet today. He is in extreme pain with what looks like an abscess in his mouth. He is SO swollen and is SO much pain. I gave him Buprenex and some Homeopathy and I pray to God by waiting to go to our usual vet instead of ER vet (NO LIKE!) I did not wait too long. This just happened! In a matter of two days! Thanks, Susan. I am really really nervous about this. Love, Amy

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        1. You know I can empathize with you. I will pray for healing and peace. For both of you. It’s so freaking hard when your babies are sick.

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          1. OH YES IT IS!!!! My nerves are screaming! I’ve been crying so hard. This guy was supposed to go for dental surgery but he had chronic diarrhea for over one year. We finally got that under control and he was finally feeling good and now this. I don’t know if he is in renal failure (he is a kidney baby) or if it is the tooth that was supposed to come out that has abscessed. He is a mess right now, Susan, and I have never seen a cat in so much pain as he is in. Even with the narcotic I gave him. I HATE this when this happens. I have to get my breath back. xx Amy

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      1. HE IS OK!!! It was a tooth abscess, Susan. His last round of Homeopathy brought the swelling down. He got an injection (antibiotic) and he is going to be scheduled in about one week for dental surgery. The doc knows his history of renal and immune, so he will be taken good care of. This tooth (teeth) must be adressed. I am SO relieved. He looked like he was dying. OH GOD, miracles really do happen!!! Love, Amy

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          1. Thank you, Susan. Really thank you. I am SO relieved. FYI….The Professor ran from me like a chicken. We were going back and forth and last I heard he ran. Huh!

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                  1. Ohhhhhh …..Hmmmmmmm…… I did pick up on that too. Huh! What do you think we should do? I will stop batting my eyelashes at him. Tee Hee Should we be more manly? Tis something I need to ponder upon …

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                    1. There you are. But go ahead and bat your eyelashes. MM doesn’t seem to be afraid of women. He threw his wife and daughter into the bathtub. I wonder if there was water in it at the time?

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      1. We are the holistic vets. And I was VERY impressed with the vet (normally we see another one) because he thought things out with me, and he listened to me taking into consideration all of Rocky’s “problems”. He was really good, Susan, and this is the man who will be doing his surgery. I am very sure of this man and I am very sure that Angels helped today as well. All the holistics vets around here charge huge amounts for their services. Not cool. Love, Amy

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          1. Self taught. It is mostly my husband. My eyes cross trying to understand this science. It is really hard. But, when I apply myself I do it too. I have to give my husband the credit for he is the brains behind the Homeopathy. No one locally comes even near our knowledge. xx Amy

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            1. I have a vague understanding of how it is supposed to work. My chiropractor knows quite a bit. I guess I’d best just look for a reference and dig in.

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                1. Thank you, Amy. I will do that.

                  I have empathy for you and your husband. My brother wasn’t in Nam, but he was a sniper overseas for a number of years. He is a sensitive person, and it totally messed him up.

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                    1. Thank you, Amy. He’s the sibling who is closest to me, and it took him a long time to tell me his story. But he found God. The real God. He has a wonderful wife who knows when to love on him and when to kick his butt. He has a pit bull (beautiful creature) who adores them.

                      My heart went out to you when I read your About Me page.

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                    2. Susan, that is my hubs problem right there. He won’t stick with God. When he is on track with God, he does SO good. Then he stumbles, falls back and closes the door on God. And I watch by as he destroys himself. How sad is that???

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      1. If you ask me he is not ready to get married. I think he is moving too fast. And I think Amelia is playing him. We better watch out for him, Susan. *concerned*

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    5. My brother was like that for a long time. I am praying for you for the peace in you to manifest itself to you every day, and that for him also. XOXOXO Love you, Amy.

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      1. Susan, I walk in peace every day. And he sees that I do. And he fears this because it would mean he would have to let go of his fear. (sigh) No, it does’t make sense. But his fear has become comfortable. Any change he sees as FEAR.

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        1. I can understand where he is coming from. I’ve been there. PTSD kicks butt. There is a point where your fear seems like your best friend. It’s a miserable friend, granted, but it’s pain that you know intimately. It’s scary to leave the way things are, even when you know in some place in your heart that it would be better. Hugs and love to you, Amy.

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    1. The professor could write letters, but won’t? No problem. All you need is an office administrator to write them for you. Yeah. I wouldn’t mind a trip across the Atlantic myself – heading Iberian-Ly speaking. I’m watching J K Rowling’s story, and I didn’t know she taught English in Portugal. That’s what I want to do. Just need to find out how.

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    3. I don’t mind in the least. After all, you signed up for a trip to Portugal. Besides, it’s all in the (Punchy) family. And we’d make sure you saw a real soccer match if at all possible.

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  5. Lovely snippet of family history (which so many of us are seriously lacking these days).

    I can imagine all my buddies from the stamp collector forums would have a field day looking at those stamps and the postmarks!

    Just think of the love and care that went into that, and then the number of hands that actually touched it to get it to where it was going.

    #Awesomeness!

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    1. Thank you, Miss Lou. Yes, writing letters seems to be almost a lost art. I recall reading the Little House on the Prairie series and they used to write one page, small lettering and then crossed over to save money.

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        1. Wow! I wonder how hard they were to read? I used to write backward. I’m left-handed, and it was pretty easy. Sometimes I wrote letters in a spiral circle.

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              1. *giggling* Thank you Susan.. I have a smile on my face I think I will be wearing for the next hour or two (until I get to bed, which I hope will be before 2am this evening)

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