VIDALIA, La. &045; Sunday brought a welcome pick-me-up for Melissa Spencer of Vidalia.

Since she and her 14-year-old daughter were in Shreveport Saturday for a Vidalia Junior High function, Spencer didn’t get to check her mail at the Vidalia post office that day.

Instead, she dropped by Sunday afternoon, where she found a load of junk mail and other letters &045; and a pink envelope addressed from a loved one in Oakland, Calif.

It was from Spencer’s Aunt Havis, a Mother’s Day card from the person she considers her surrogate mother.

&uot;My mother died in March,&uot; Spencer said.

&uot;(My aunt and I) have always been close, but since then we’ve been ever closer. She’s my mother’s sister, so I guess she figured she would step in and be like a mother to me.&uot;

Havis Blanchard, a Vidalia native, moved to Oakland about 40 years ago, taking a job with the post office there.

&uot;I guess she wanted to get away from home&uot; and experience a different part of the world, Spencer said.

Still, she and her aunt see each other once or sometimes twice a year.

Usually that’s Blanchard coming to see her, although Spencer said she has traveled to Oakland to see her aunt a few times.

But until that next in-person visit, telephone calls &045; &uot;we’re a really close family. We talk every day,&uot; Spencer said &045; and holiday cards will have to do.