Wings! to symbolize the service of the Underwood Portable–to show that from its keys words leap in swift flight; imagination soars; thought speeds onward; all that lives in heart and mind is given freest expression.
I recently inherited my great-aunt Llewella’s Underwood portable typewriter dating from the 1920s. When I set it up to see how well it typed, this is what it wrote.
My dear Michelle,
I’m not sure why having my old typewriter seems so significant to you, but I suppose I can be flattered. Perhaps you think of it as a type of Ouija board to summon my spirit. I hope not because this spirit is tired of this world and has already 
moved on. Unlike some of the more exotic tourist destinations I’ve been blessed in my lifetime to see, I feel no need to revisit this one.
If I were to stop in and see you again, I’d have nothing new to say. Not for a lack of imagination, but because I’ve already said the most important thing, or at least the most important thing I’ve said to you: always say YES. I could always see so much potential in your life, and I hope you feel it’s still there. You’ll always seem young relative to me, but it doesn’t matter that you’re now in your early 50s; the potential is still there. Don’t forget, Little One, I lived to the ripe old age of 87 and you still have a long way to go.
One by one petals are falling from us old flowers. Soon there will be nothing left. We will become dust, or compost. Throw some seeds my dear. Go to seed. Make something grow.
Love, Llewella
michelle rau 