LETTERS: WRITER TOUCHES THE LIVES OF OTHERS

To the editor:

Thank you, Jean Bell Mosley, for using your gift of writing to touch the lives of others. I am a 36-year-old mother of two daughters, ages 9 and 5. When I was old enough to appreciate it, my mother introduced me to her prized and well-worn copy of "Mockingbird Piano." I was hooked. I have looked in numerous places for my own copy, but it seems to be out of print. I'll just have to talk her into loaning hers once in a while. I've got a copy of "The Crosses at Zarin," and I've read "Wide Meadows" (did I get that right?) from the library.

A couple of years ago I found "Seeds on the Wind" at the library and wrote to the printer for a copy of my own. When I received it, I was overjoyed to find Mrs. Mosley's autograph in the front. It is now one of my prized possessions, but I've let my mom talk me into loaning it to her once in a while.

My parents, grandparents, great-grandparents etc. grew up in the Lead Belt and Ozark areas, and I spent several years of my life there too. I haven't gone too far from the hills. I'm in southwestern St. Louis County. My soul also seems to need the Ozark views. They are, indeed, "soul-servicing" sights.

I've started re-reading "Seeds on the Wind" recently, and I have decided to make it last all year, reading it by the month as it is set up. I just read "The Oldest Hills" and "Aunt Polly's View" and am again reminded that Mrs. Mosley and I hold many of the same values. I share the beauties of God's creations with my girls regularly, and with my husband when I can get him interested. He's a wonderful husband and father but just doesn't get ecstatic over a sunset. I love God's colors and the intricate details of a leaf, and I can be left standing in awe and thankfulness at the sight of a hummingbird at my flowers.

I like to write too, but I don't seem to have Mrs. Mosley's ability to make a reader see and feel what I see and feel. I work out of my home as a medical editor and write poetry occasionally just for me and my family.

My favorite story from "Seeds on the Wind" is probably "Starshiners." I shared it with a friend whom I recognized as a Starshiner after Mrs. Mosley named her for me. After reading that story, my mom and I created our own boxes to store all those memories in. My mom's is a hinged walnut shell, and mine is made of a knotty pine long, sanded smooth, with little drawers that open every place a knot sticks out. Among my treasures is a beautifully gold-colored double rainbow, the full arch from horizon to horizon against a dark blue-black cloudy sky, along with kisses from my daughters, a view from a certain hilltop on the way to Flat River and a valley full of dogwood trees in bloom. I also have stored the softness of a hummingbird, I found one on a busy sidewalk, stunned from bumping a window but still alive, and I moved it to an ivy-filled planter box for safety. It was gone when I went out at lunch break, so I assume it recovered. I've got goldfinches too, from a poem written by my great-aunt, from one in his summer colors on a dandelion stalk in my yard, and from a winter flock of 40 or 50 in my front yard eating sweet gum seeds. I've also found that the more you open the box to look over your treasures, the more beautiful they become.

Thank you again to Mrs. Mosley for her writing. I treasure her books and her outlook on life. I am striving to see the beauty in the simple, everyday things.

DIANA ANDERSON

Fenton

EDITOR'S NOTE: Copies of "Seeds on the Wind" by Jean Bell Mosley, longtime columnist for the Southeast Missourian, are still available for $20 each. Order copies by writing to the Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702. Or call 335-6611.