Show The boom in o Letters from hundreds of USA WEEKEND readers show how a family feeling can thrive in hectic times BY DAN OLMSTED Valerie Bonnie Ron Lenore Castillo of East Detroit writes notes on napkins in daughter Elyse’s lunch box One day Lenore got one in return it couldn’t be simpler Every morning before work Lenore Castillo of East Detroit writes a note on a napkin and tucks it in Elyse’s lunch box Elyse’s preschool teacher reads it aloud at noon: a few words of love a reminder of what the family will do that night Some afternoons when Lenore comes for her Elyse has the napkin in her pocket “One day when I was unpacking die lunch box” Castillo wrote USA WEEKEND “I found a painstakingly folded piece of paper As I unfolded it I saw that it was lavished with drawings of Elyse and me our house flowers and a great big yellow sun On it she had printed ‘Mama’ and ‘Love Elyse' “That sweet unexpected return of my show of love made me catch my breath I 4 USA WEEKEND Nortmitr 17-1- 9 19)9 realized she had been learning compassion caring and consideration” A simple tradition — but with power-fi- ll results In hundreds of letters from USA WEEKEND readers for our second annual Family Spirit Issue a new feeling for tradition shines through: A woman in Ohio decides a rickety rocker is an heirloom after all a California couple who set a selfless example are touched by their children’s response to October’s Bay area earthquake a Michigan father shows his sons what his dad was like Families are rediscovering “the thread that connects one generation to another” says Lucy Estrin of Coral Gables Fla a family therapist for 30 years “When that gets lost we get lost" During the 1960s it was lost as the normal parent-chil- d turmoil turned ugly Danny (seated) David Chris The Clarks of Boise Idaho dug up a time capsule this summer that they buried 13 years ago They laughed They cried Now they may bury another Now tradition baby boomers ’60s look many for ways to help their own children grow up in the 90$ Lenore Castillo for example isn’t close to her own mother but wants to be close with Elyse “The greatest need that parents have” says Estrin “is to transmit to the next generation the values they hold dear” is back as of them children of the Listen to Dominick Schiano of Hills Mich talk ms four sons and his father Most Saturdays Schiano gives his wife Cindy some time to herself and takes the boiys all 6 and under for an outdoor adventure (They brought their own binoculars for our cover photo) “If it’s summertime we’ll walk the nature trails and look for animals Some times well see deer skunks ducks We throw rocks in the big lake We could do that for two or three hours “In the wintertime when it’s really cold sometimes we’re the only ones there just a few other people skung Or I’ll take them to the zoo The polar bean they love — they’re big and you can get pretty close” All this means more than a passerby could realize “My father died when I was young (at age 12)” says Schiano explaining why he tries to give his sons “a sense of who my Ether was That’s important to me I along with keeping our Indian heritage named my first son after my father — I call him Jerry but his name is Gennaro “My dad used to take me out We never really did anything specifically we cross-count- ry |