Letters originally intended for a 12-year-old later came to inspire people across the nation.
The letters tucked away in a box in the basement were originally only meant for one pair of eyes. Eleven years later, thousands saw them.
No acts of malice were involved. Rather, Skye Gould, an Ohio University alumna, used the “lunch box letters” written by her mother to make a website for her thesis project: Advice From My Mom.
Once Good Morning America and The Today Show contacted Gould for her story, she realized it had become much bigger than she expected.
“It’s been really crazy,” Gould said. “A lot of news sites have picked it up and I’ve gotten a lot of emails from strangers, parents telling me how much they appreciated it and how much they wanted to do it with their kids.”
The letters were simple: “When one door closes another opens,” one letter read. “The hard part is to think about the opportunities of that new open door – and not obsess about what’s closing.”
However, Gould did not anticipate the effect the letters would have on herself throughout her growth into adulthood.
“I was 12,” she said. “I don’t think you really think about too much more than your current surroundings.”
Advice From My Mom from Skye Gould on Vimeo.
The advice meant for a 12-year-old dealing with moving from a childhood home and family health issues would later serve as both a reminder of her upbringing as well as advice that still applies to her daily life.
“Most of it has applied to my adult life somehow,” Gould said. “Being confident, following your gut, doing what makes you happy, putting family first – all of these thing were things that she talked about in the letters.”
Stephanie Skylar, Gould’s mother, said she came up with the advice through her own experiences in life and knew that the advice could be applied to contexts outside of the issues dealt with by a 12-year-old.
“I think the recurring theme would have been ‘build independence and
resilience,’ ” Skylar said. “So that you can cope well in this crazy, difficult world we live in.”
Skylar and Gould had been interviewed by local publications in Lima, Ohio, but had no idea how quickly the story would spread.
“We were just having fun with it,” Skylar said. “It seemed like every single day someone was calling us — ABC News, Parents Magazine, Good Housekeeping — wanting interviews.”
Skylar hopes that the lunchbox letters will encourage other parents to take a similar approach.
“Maybe, just maybe, it will inspire some other moms or dads to share messages with their kids, definitely at a vulnerable time in their lives,” she said.
If she decides to have children, Gould thinks she may carry on the tradition.
“Nowadays when we’re glued to our phones and screens, any time you get something handwritten it has a long-lasting impact on you and you remember it,” she said. “So I think I definitely would do something similar."
@seanthomaswolfe
sw399914@ohio.edu
