Editor’s Note: Pen Women postings is a feature we have had for years but somehow people don’t take advantage of it. When I received the from Lauri Heiss I just knew where it HAD to be placed. Please enjoy this wonderful retrospective. ~~ Doris Mady
Laurie Heiss – “I was stressed and fretting about my feelings of loss instead of pride on July 4th. I thought writing a letter to my grandfather might feel cathartic. I cried about all we’ve lost, I’ve lost as I wrote. It helped me make it through July 4th.
My grandfather was Pennsylvania Dutch and my Grandmother, Swedish, both her parents arrived in the US between 1905-1910?, they migrated towards Chicago. My grandfather’s twin died in the massive flu epidemic; he was shuttled off to an aunt in Chicago to work as a kid. He was born July 3, and proud of it. We were a family that cherished the flag. My son was born on Flag Day. Attached is a picture of our old family flag”.
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July 4, 2026
Dear Papa,
I’m writing just after midnight – yesterday was July 3rd; your birthday. You would be SO OLD were you still here. I know how much our family loved the 4th holiday, always kicked-off by your birthday. I am flying your old flag at my farm out in middle-western Connecticut— I’ve made my home far away from Northwoods, Poolwood Farm, SunMeadow Farm, DuWayne Motel and Chicago– my, my we had a lot of midwestern land back then.
As for the old flag — it is a bit worn out…but has been with me in Redding for a long time. As for my farm, it is 1/20th the size of SunMeadow but I carry on some of our farming traditions that thread back to our country’s battle for freedoms in the Pennsylvania farming countryside. I carry the DAR number of our earliest ancestors; kind of goofy, but I cherish our roots. As for the flag, the original pole is shorter now and splintered. I’ve wrapped it in good ol’ USA Duck Tape; it’ll survive.
The fabric itself has faded; almost pink…but all the flag-waving love of country our family has carried for the last 100 years is woven into it. I’m pretty sure you and Gramma were conservative; as farmers and industrious, small business owners. Certainly, Gramma’s Swedish parents were the soul of America, each of them starting businesses – with just enough left over to put all of their great grandkids through school. That is the dream, yes? We never talked about ‘party’ but I hope you’d be proud that I’ve been fighting for that old-fashioned dream of America that we were raised on, next to the great cornfields that fed our Brown Swiss herd. I’ve been struggling to eschew any label, but I’ve been fight alongside people from all different backgrounds that love this country, our freedoms and its moral ideals for 9 years now. Not what I’d planned for my third career! You’d be dismayed now, as would our patriot ancestors, your son who served in the Army, my other Viet Nam vet Uncle and those many Pennsylvanian farmers who protected that idea and then our flag.
I cherish it more than you would ever know, Papa. And I will listen to and work with anyone to make that tattered flag rebound, and mean something to the world. How much I loved our family’s 20th century life unfolding in and west of Chicago. It is what I feel when I look at our old family flag, no matter how tattered it might have become. It is fixable; I will always fly it on your birthday and this country’s birthday.
Your loving granddaughter,
Laurie