An Edmonton woman is looking for an unread letter from her late grandmother, which she believes was stolen from her home.
According to Jenny Black, the letter had been sitting on her countertop on Aug. 9 when her home in the Westridge-Wolf Willow area was burglarized.
"I left the house to grab lunch, and when I came back, basically the whole house smelled of cigarettes, and neither my husband nor I smoke. So, clearly someone had been there," she recalled in an interview with CTV News Edmonton.
Other belongings were stolen, but nothing as valuable as the letter, Black says.
Her grandmother, Doreen, passed away on Aug. 1 after being hospitalized for a massive stroke. Doreen was mostly unconscious in her last days.
"We didn't get to say a real goodbye," Black said.
"We got to say what we wanted to say to her, but of course she couldn't reciprocate that. And of course when we found the letters, it was like she finally (got) to do that, which was really extraordinary."
Black left her letter unread, deciding she wasn't quite ready.
"Everything that was taken can be replaced, but they've stolen essentially the last words she'll ever say to me," she said.
"Losing something so personal and precious is a little bit like losing her all over again."
Black has since taken to Facebook with the hope someone will find the letter discarded and be able to return it to her.
Her post was shared nearly 400 times as of Sunday afternoon.
"Beyond your world being turned upside down when someone passes away, to then have the violation of someone being in your home and going through your things—it kind of skews your outlook on the world," Black said.
''And then knowing so many people care about something that's just so precious to me has been really overwhelming—in a good way."
If the letter is found, Black can be reached on Twitter.
