Peter, Marcy, Jed, and Jay

Another month, another new address. Between the last letter and this one, we moved to Cotati, a small community (town? city?) near Santa Rosa. I’ve updated the map of places we lived. This was the twelfth place that we lived in my first eight years.

I was looking at the map while wondering to myself why Peter and Marcy chose Cotati, and then I noticed that our house was only a couple miles from Sonoma State University, where Marcy was attending grad school. So I now suspect that that was the main reason we lived there.

Four-page handwritten letter on 7"x11" heavy paper, in blue ink.

I don’t usually pay much attention to the stamps on these letters, but this one is unusual: a double- or triple-width 10¢ stamp commemorating Apollo/Soyuz.

Although he’s not mentioned here, Ivan (the last of the foster kids) was apparently still with us at this point; see next letter.

15 Sept

Dear Grandfolks

Many thanks for the birthday check. The best part of money presents is the number of times you get to spend ’em mentally before the actual physical moment. This one, though, will go for our dog’s name’s distemper and part of her Operation. (“Hey, did you hear about my operation?” x “No, what was it?” “Well, I asked the vet if my scar would show and he said....”) Anyway, there’s a clinic here (sort of here, actually it’s in Novato) that does shots for $3 and spayings for $25. Half the price of private vets! So tomorrow she gets a distemper shot and next week - no more babies! er - puppies. Her former owners have contributed to the spaying fee.... I had to go to court about her this morning - she and the puppy had got out on the freeway about 2 days after we moved in — fortunately, the judge was in a dismissing frame of mind. Much much easier than Santa Rosa traffic court (this was Petaluma). I listened to half an hour of traffic court before the animal court happened. It was like a soap opera. Must be very boring to hear every week, though. (I guess soap operas are, too!) The puppy finally xxx found a new owner on Friday - an old friend.

Well! Congratulations on being Grandparents again. We’re waiting patiently for some stills. Bet he looks just like a baby. The silverware & other toys are ready to go, just as soon as he writes and says he’s ready for ’em. (What? how’s that for a slowpoke excuse!)

Guess what - there are only 5 boxes left unemptied! (Those are the real doozers) I think if we move again in the next six months I’m just going to quit & hire a maid. I’ve got rid of close to half of what we had on Ludwig Ave, and I keep finding things that I’m a lot less attached to than I thought. It’s easy to value something if you keep it stashed in a closet & look at it once a year - harder if you have to look at it every day cos there’s no place to put it.

We got a lovely, luxurious letter from Karen. it sounds so fulfilling! (I guess my life would sound that way too, if I were able to keep concentrating on the joys of it.) Since I don’t have any sisters by birth, I’m xxx very aware of how fortunate I am to have Karen as an acquired one.

Have to stop before I fall asleep at the switch. Love to all, and a blessing on your new home!

Marcy

Notes

“Grandparents again”

My cousin Jason was about a month old at this point.

Karen

My aunt; my uncle David’s then-wife.