TIFTON, Ga. — A month after losing her teenage daughter in a tragic car crash, a Georgia woman rediscovered a gift that would bring her comfort she never thought she'd find again.
Macy Mathis, 16, was a girl filled with "wisdom, love, and beauty," her mother — Cindy Mathis — wrote in a Facebook post. Mathis, along with the rest of Macy's family and friends, was devastated when her daughter was killed in a car crash last November.
Macy's boyfriend — 18-year-old Adam Sattler — was driving the car and was also killed, according to WALB News.
Several weeks after the accident, a grieving Mathis was cleaning out her car when she stumbled upon a letter in Macy's handwriting that read, "Open when you can't sleep."
The letter was just one of 25 that Macy had written her mother for her birthday that year, Mathis wrote on the Facebook page she created after her daughter's death — Macy's Journey. Macy instructed her mom to open each letter as needed — each was labeled to address a specific situation or emotion: loneliness, sadness, sleeplessness, etc.
Up until that moment, she'd forgotten she had them.
"That's when I had remembered she had written these letters for me," Mathis told CBS News. "I tore my room apart looking for all of them."
Mathis had only read about three of the letters before Macy died.
"I want to open all of them at the same time but I truly don't think my heart can handle it," she wrote.
So she took it slow, first soaking up her daughter's loving words designed to help her sleep better.
"I want you to know that I love you," Macy wrote. "I feel like I don't tell you that enough and since you can't sleep and you're probably stressed out about something I need you to know that I love you."
"If you'd like, you can crawl in bed with me and I'll be your little baby girl again," the letter continues. "I'll make you coffee in the morning."
Mathis told CBS she's tried to respect her daughter's original rule of only opening a letter when a specific need arises. Now, she's sharing Macy's gift with the world by posting the letters to her Facebook page.
Each envelope has contained a message that inspires laughter, joy and tears.
When she opened a letter meant to make her "smile," Mathis found a playing card taped inside with the words, "You are the queen of my heart!"
"She always knew how to make me smile!" Mathis wrote on Facebook.
Another letter, labeled, "Open when you miss me," was particularly difficult to digest.
"I'm sorry that you're missing me," Macy wrote. "I hope wherever you are or whatever you're doing you're okay. I'm probably missing you too."
"You don't know how much mommy misses you!" Mathis wrote back. "There is not a second of the day that goes by and I don't think of you. You are my rock, my best friend, my everything."
Mathis also uses the page to post news articles that feature Macy's story. She notes that while Macy wasn't able to travel much in her short life, she's leaving her mark on the world one letter at a time.
"You told me you were going to travel the world and you are!" Mathis wrote alongside a letter labeled, "Open when… you're excited about something!"
With each letter, Mathis has felt closer to her daughter — a gift that will continue giving forever.
"Each (letter) has helped me in so many ways," Mathis told CBS. "It's like she knew, but she didn't know… It's an amazing feeling. It feels like she's there with me."
