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“It really reminded me of how much—oh, I feel like I’m going to cry saying it now—of howmuch love I have for my dad,” says Woods. Buz grew up receiving letters himself. His mother, Peg Pyne Ecker, wrote him hundreds when he went to sleepaway camp and when he studied English at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, in the late 1970s. When it was time for Buz’s three children—Paulik and her siblings, John and Annie—to attend sleepaway camp, Buz wrote them let- ters, too, like this one to Paulik in June 2005: “HI ROSIE!!! I LOVE YOU AND I ALREADY MISS YOU A TON!” Paulik received so many letters that summer that any day one wasn’t deliv- ered, she figured someone at camp wasn’t doing their job. Wherever Paulik went, she was assured a handwritten letter. Her dad wrote to her when she was a teenage counselor at a wilderness camp in International Falls, Minnesota, and when she studied strategic communi- cation at the University of Kentucky in the mid-2010s—even as many people shifted to texting to communicate. Then Paulik moved back to the Cincin- nati area, about a 20-minute drive from her parents’ house, and Buz still wrote her letters every day. He typically wrote about mundane things, like what kind of sandwich he ate for lunch. Or more exciting events, like when a swarm of hornets attacked him. Sometimes he took breaks from telling narratives to include live dia- logue with Betsy, writing, “Hold on, she’s talking to me.” Paulik still has these letters, a few thousand in total, which she keeps in a red bin at home. Of course, writing to your daughter is very different fromwriting to a stranger. People who request letters tend to be dealing with a variety of issues—like grieving a loved one’s death or a bad relationship with their dad. Some have recently become dads themselves and don’t knowwhat to do, while others are stressed from work, feel lost or are recovering from a breakup. Buz wakes up around 4:30 a.m. to write for about four hours each morn- ing. He tells stories about his parents and his grief when they died. But he also includes light anecdotes, like how his dogs, Pearl and Piper, love to escape and cover themselves in burrs andmud at a nearby river. ROSIE PAULIK VIA WASHINGTON POST reader ’ s digest Life Well Lived ROSIE PAULIK VIA WASHINGTON POST (2) He has struggled to respond to some prob- lems. When he wrote to a woman whose child had died, he told her about his grandmother, Evelyn Sherwood Pyne, having a stillborn child in 1919. Buz doesn’t know how much money he’s spent on postage and statio- nery for the project, say- ing the costs are less than the “gratification that people receive and that I receive out of writ- ing the letters.” Last August, after he received his first of a handful of thank-you letters from requesters, Paulik’s mother texted her “You made your father’s day.” Paulik, who works in communica- tions, has found about 30 other dads to help Buz. The dads have nowmailed out more than 4,500 letters. One of the dads is Darren Timmeney, her friend’s father in Kalamazoo, Michigan, who used to drop encouraging notes into his son’s and daughter’s lunchboxes before school. After retiring from his banking career last June, Timmeney was seeking a new hobby. Now, he says, “I wake up in the morning a little bit more motivated.” Timmeney wrote the letter to Amy Woods in England, including the line that made Woods cry at her kitchen table: “As a dad, I am proud of you and think you wondering and thinking about your hippie artist dad is really special.” Woods says she had a complicated relationship with her father, David, who died in September 2021 after suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.The letter she receivedwas writ- ten in a laid-back tone similar to his. Woods stored the letter in a box with other mementos that remind her of her family. But how long will it stay there? “Forever,” she says. “Without a doubt.” Opposite page: Rosie Paulik holding some of the letters her dad, Buz Ecker, (above) has written to her over the years. THE WASHINGTON POST (AUG. 30, 2025), COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY THE WASHINGTON POST. reader ’ s digest Life Well Lived readersdigest.com.au 13