The things we keep: Letters from the heart

By Chris Thuma – Horizon Staff Reporter

“The Things We Keep” series follows Hesston College students and the personal items that connect them to home.

When Myles Cardenas is feeling down he grabs his mom’s poem from the top of his dorm room desk.

“A son like you, I thought could never be,” she writes. “Because the day you were born, I just knew, God sent me a blessing and that was you.”

Cardenas, a freshman from Atlanta, says getting a simple letter or poem from his parents reminds him to be the best he can be.

“Basically they tell me that they love me and miss me, and if that I’m a going through a rough time that they are always there for me,” he said.

The poems, the letters, and sometimes even a hand-drawn picture from his 3-year-old nephew remind him that even though home is far away, he will always have little bit of Georgia here in Kansas.

“Family is the biggest part of my life,” Cardenas said.