Peter, Marcy, Jed, and Jay

One-page handwritten letter on three-hole-punched lined paper. At some point, Helen wrote the date “Jan. 8, ’87” at the top.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

Thank You so much for the presents! I x really liked the candy and the lefsa. Also, I will definitely put the stopwatch to good use - at track meets, when I am not running, the coaches always need extra people to be timers. The twenty dollars went into my savings account. I bought a new tennis racquet, and I think I am still saving for a x “Caddy.” (Peter just bought a new car so maybe I won’t have to xxx buy one after all.) Anyway, you can assume that you helped me pay for the racquet, or the car, or both. If I’m not making any sense here, feel free to call any time.

Changing the subject, I am really sorry I didn’t make it up there this time. I was very un-enthused about driving for forty hours, and only staying for about 72 hours. So, I stayed home and read The Grapes of Wrath for English class. I’ve never read so much in such a short time. x 500 pages in less than a week. I really enjoyed the story, which is unusuall, because I mostly dislike assigned English books. Have either of you ever read it?

Well, I have tests tomorrow along with running and working on my sports page, so I think x I’ll end this letter right here. Again thank you so much for the great presents!

Love,

Joaquin

P.S. Enclosed are two recent pictures of me. The first one is just a x school picture, and the other one is at the Homecoming dance with my date, name redacted by Jed.

Notes

Peter’s car

IIrc, that was a Mazda RX-7, a much sportier car than Peter had ever owned before.

sports page

Jay was on the high school newspaper staff.