finding friday: Gladys Page

I don't think I've posted a find for the last two fridays. {let's be honest, I've had a complete lack of blogging as of late} so today, as a fresh start to the new year, I wanted to post something fabulous. something favorite. something worthy of the year's first find:

Dear Mama,
We have house cleaning just about all done. Grass tall enough to be mowed. May flowers, violets & Buttercups all over. But we have not [something] garden. . . [can't really read the rest and then it is torn]
[she must have ran out of room on bottom, this was written upside down on the top of the postcard:] saw by paper he was sick.
Gladys Page

the post card is addressed to:

Mrs. Nellie Page
Dell Rapids
S. Dak.

right above the address, written in pen:

Aunt Eds (?) + Gladys

I was out on a run--in fact I think it was THIS run--and saw what looked to be an old postcard lying on the ground. it was an old postcard. a really old postcard dated april 29 1913. what a find! my heart reeled. but what do I do with it? it was so fragile, already held together by only a small thread of paper. so I did the only thing I could do, run home with it carefully in my hands. trying all the way to cradle it, as to not let the pieces separate. {unfortunately they did} by the time I got home, it had fallen apart in my sweaty little hands.

I was so proud of this little find, though. I'm not sure my roommates appreciated it as much as I did. I think they just thought I was weird for collecting trash. but this wasn't trash. this was a peak into someone's life--Gladys' life. a life that was lived in the early part of the last century! I am so far removed from Gladys, from the place + time, but here I am feeling so connected to her. wishing I knew more of her story. honestly, just wishing I could actually read more of the postcard. it's so intriguing though, isn't it? the bits and pieces of everyday life?