Dear Teresa,

Happy 17th Birthday. Did you ever wonder why mom and dad named us Teresa? I asked and was told that we were named after our grandmothers, Teresa and Elizabeth. I hated the name Teresa and wished they had named us Elizabeth Teresa. Lot of nice nicknames for Elizabeth. There is Beth, Liz, Eliza, Ellie. As Teresa we were stuck with Terry, Terri and just a few years ago I discovered Tessa. Now that nickname is cool.

Do you remember this band trip. I have forgotten where we went. This picture of us was taken in Maryland. I do remember that part.

I gave up playing the trumpet when we got out of school. Do you ever wish that you still played? Playing music was hard for us since we really couldn’t read the music. It is a wonder we made it through the high school marching band. Or the regular band during inside season for that matter.

I remember the year we had to audition for our seats. I stared at that music horrified. I couldn’t read it well enough to get the tune. The song was a Souza march and it was a nice one, but I thought we were doomed and then mom and dad found the record and we played it over and over until we were pretty close to the music.

We didn’t get first seat, but we made a chair at least.

Good luck in the future. You are in for a bumpy ride.

Love,

Tessa from the year 2015