Show Notes
Show Notes Shelley, age 2 in 1972, and Nanna age 72, with Nanna’s precious doggie
Episode Show Notes This week on Tell Me Over Tea, I sit down with Shelley to talk about her great-grandmother — fondly called Nanna — and the letters Shelley wrote to her across almost her entire childhood. Nanna was born in 1900, and from the moment Shelley arrived, the two shared a special bond. Shelley tells the story of Nanna walking a long distance just to buy her a walkie-talkie doll for her second Christmas — a small act that speaks volumes about how much love went into that relationship. Every Sunday after church, Shelley’s family would make the hour-long drive on gravel roads to visit Nanna and her grandmother, a ritual that shaped so much of her childhood. Shelley started writing to Nanna at around four and a half years old — her first letters scrawled on Wombles stationery, full of news from the farm. Nanna had arthritis and could never write back, but that didn’t stop Shelley from writing. They kept flowing right through Shelley’s teenage years, when — after her parents’ divorce — she found herself stepping into a motherly role for her younger sisters. The letters shifted too, becoming a private place to say the things she couldn’t say out loud, safe in the knowledge that Nanna would never repeat a word. Shelley kept writing to Nana until she was nineteen. After Nana passed away when Shelley was sixteen, she continued writing to her, but those letters she burned as part of her grieving process. Years later Shelley inherited her Nanna’s old dressing table, and discovered a box tucked inside it full of letters she’d completely forgotten about. A time capsule of her childhood, from age four to sixteen, right there! This is a beautiful conversation about the power of letters — how they can hold grief, joy, secrets, and the everyday. Shelley’s first letter written when she was 4 1/2 on Wombles paper no less! I loved the Wombles too! Shelley and her walking talking doll at age 2.
If this episode has you thinking about the letters you’ve written, kept, or wish you still had, I’d love for you to join the Lovely Letters Project — my free pen pal exchange, and a lovely place to start writing letters of your own. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d love it if you would follow Tell Me Over Tea wherever you listen, and if you feel so inclined, please leave a little review — it helps more story-lovers find their way here:) Kim x
Where to find me: ✨I write, on Substack, a weekly newsletter, you can subscribe to that here: Betty Mae Wrote newsletter. It’s the space where I share stories (both mine and other people’s) and it’s also a way of keeping up to date with all things Betty Mae Wrote, Little Life Stories, Lovely Letters and the podcast. ✨The Tea + Toast Letter Club! A little moment to pour yourself a cuppa, find a comfy spot, and enjoy a letter (and some other goodies) in the mail every month. You can read more about it here. ✨If you’d like to get back into the gorgeous slow soothe of letter writing, please know you are always welcome to join: The Lovely Letters Project (it’s free!) ✨To find out more about my memory writing program, Little Life Stories you can do that here: Little Life Stories ✨I’ve created a simple and beautiful starting point for your own storytelling: The Five Minute Memory List.It’s a short, exercise (a cuppa’s worth), to help you gather memories and begin. It’s fun and easy peasey and it’s something you can use in your letter writing, journaling and personal life writing. You can grab that by subscribing to my newsletter (you’ll find it in the welcome letter one you’ve signed up): here ✨Or if you simply need a good old sticky beak around the place, please head on over here to the website: www.bettymaewrote.com ✨Oh and if you’re an Instagram type, be sure to follow me on Instagram: @bettymaewrote
Tell Me Over Tea is a cosy storytelling podcast about the stories that matter — one memory, and cuppa, at a time. Written and h
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Perseverance Lane, the road my grandparents lived on just outside of Gulgong. The name of their Lane says so much about them:)
Show Notes ***Content note: this episode includes a letter that discusses suicide. Please take care as you listen. This week’s podcast episode is a Kitchen Table Letters one. It is based on a beautiful, heart-led prompt: If you could sit at a park bench and talk to anyone for an hour, who would it be? What would you say to them? What do they mean to you? The letters that came in response to this one are some of the most tender I’ve had the privilege of reading — each written to a loved one who is no longer here, imagining just one more hour together. Penny writes to her father, picturing an ordinary, wandering day together — pelicans, sea lions, old jokes about Coca-Cola and cameras without film, and a shared sunset by the sea. It’s a sweet, funny, beautiful tribute to a dad she clearly adored. Denise writes to her brother, Stewart, who she lost in 2023. This letter touches on suicide, so please take care of yourself while listening, and know it’s completely okay to skip this one if today isn’t the day for it. Denise’s letter is raw and honest, full of childhood memories, unanswered questions, and so much love. Janine writes to her dad, twenty years after losing him — golf games, tennis against the garden wall, scraped knees, and all the small everyday moments that added up to a lifetime of being loved by him. This episode is a reminder that grief and love are so often the same thing, just wearing different clothes — and that writing to the people we’ve lost can be a precious way to keep carrying them with us as well as process our loss. If you’d like to take part in the Kitchen Table Letters, I’d love to hear from you. Simply email me at [email protected] and I’ll send you all the details and the next prompt. If you enjoyed this episode, I’d love it if you would follow Tell Me Over Tea wherever you listen, and if you feel inclined, a little review always helps more story-lovers find their way here:) Kim x Please email me at: [email protected] if you’d like to take part in The Kitchen Table Letters.
Show Notes Pop the kettle on and pull up a chair — this is a Kitchen Table Letters episode, where I read letters sent in by listeners and members of the Betty Mae Wrote community, written in answer to a question I’ve set. This time, the question was simple: What’s something small in your daily life that brings you a quiet kind of joy? In this episode I read four beautiful letters — from Karan, Peggy, Jen, and Kim — each one a small window into an ordinary daily ritual that holds meaning. * Karan’s letter — winding her watch. A daily ritual of winding an analogue watch that can’t be rushed — and how it became a grounding practice after a period of burnout. * Peggy’s letter — the coffee run. A 15-minute drive to grab a takeaway coffee, and the noticing of the world along the way — from the different feel of each day of the week to memories of her mum and sister. * Jen’s letter — an evening (and a morning) at home. Written in two sittings, with candles, a writing lamp, and her dogs nearby — on chatting with her kids, her husband hanging out the washing, and her morning coffee. * Kim’s letter — journaling through it all. Started on a hard 30th birthday, her journals have carried her through divorce, loss, new love, and grandchildren — now lovingly nicknamed “The Book of Grandma” by her granddaughter. Want to write your own Kitchen Table Letter? The Kitchen Table Letters is open to anyone in the Betty Mae Wrote community — Instagram followers, newsletter subscribers, Lovely Letters Project members, Tea and Toast Club members, and podcast listeners alike. Email me: [email protected] to request the current list of questions, answer as many (or as few) as you like, pop a stamp on it, and post it in. Your letter might just be read on a future episode:) In today’s episode I also mention something utterly beautiful and in perfect keeping with the theme of today’s letters. Jenny of Nordic Stories — photographer and visual story teller, has created Nordic Chapters, a monthly club encouraging everyday photography as a way of noticing and remembering ordinary life and the small things that bring us joy. Jenny is welcoming in new members for September And the doors are opening next week for the brand new chapter. It is such a cosy, delightful space to enter into and as someone who is taking part, I could not think of a more lovely, gentle way of pausing and noticing the life around me. What a beautiful experience! You can read more about Nordic Chapters here, and find Jenny: * Instagram: @nordic_stories * Website: Nordic Stories If you enjoyed this episode, follow Tell Me Over Tea wherever you listen, and if you feel inclined, please leave a little review — it helps more story-lovers find their way here:) Kim x