Ten-page handwritten letter, mostly on unlined paper.<\/p>\r\n
Content warning for one instance of the R-word (which I\u2019ve redacted).<\/p>\r\n
\r\nWednesday<\/p>\r\n
<\/p>\r\n
Hi! What a lovely surprize! You really did get that package off before you left. You are both amazing!! So is U.P.S., of course, but then it\u2019s their job. They somehow got the box here with no mishap, but when Ivan picked it up to carry inside, one of the ropes slipped off. I let him open it \u2014 he had a great time. The motorcycle boots were the great attraction for him, of course, but I\u2019d just bought him some black lace-up boots (would you believe $1800<\/u><\/sup>?) on Saturday, and fortunately for my peace of mind they (yours) were too big for him. But just fit Larry, who had been a little miffed that he had only gotten desert boots on the shoe day. (course that had been his choice...) Larry\u2019s big news is that he\u2019s going to be in 9th grade \u2014 that\u2019s high school \u2014 and take driver ed (he\u2019ll be 16 in October) and be able to flirt with all the older girls, etc - It STARTS NEXT TUESDAY!!! thanks be to the powers that be. Hurray!!!!<\/p>\r\n
Anyway, the package was, as they say, a gas! Starting with the great rope and ending with the thoughtful grandparent\u2019s parting reminder \u2014 that you knew all along it wouldn\u2019t all be perfect so here\u2019s for the leftovers. As a matter of fact, Grandma, this time you were almost wrong! Everything except the pointy-toed boots is just right on \u2014 perfect timing on every piece. My potholders were on their last legs, or a little beyond, I haven\u2019t been able to use cloth napkins almost all summer, the sheets were as welcome as rain in August, the sewing things were a joy and a delight, the car model kit hasn\u2019t been closed in four or five hours (George is
xxx<\/strike> currently tripping out on it), and that lovely little dress is so perfect I could cry.<\/p>\r\nJed & Joaquin and their father whatsisname will be back tomorrow \u2014 I put the pretty sheets on their beds for a surprise. They\u2019re having a lovely<\/u> trip! Hope the same has been true for you & that you\u2019re caught up with the jet lag and all that \u2014 especially, I enjoy thinking about the vistas and visions of Alaska that must have been yours, aplane and on the ground \u2014 hoping to hear all about Paul & Linda soon.<\/p>\r\n
John called Saturday \u2014 we\u2019re all agog about their visit, sorry Elizabeth won\u2019t be coming, tho.<\/p>\r\n
Here\u2019s our big news: some friends called from the City the other night with a tale of
xxx<\/strike> woe: they\u2019d been adopted by \u201cthe most wonderful puppy in the world\u201d but their landlady was very uptight about dogs & was evicting<\/u>! them on account of the pup, and did we know of a home for her till they could tie up loose ends and find a new home, about a month \u2014 ?? Well, who\u2019s the best foster home in these parts, anyway? So they brought our dog\u2019s name<\/span> up on Sunday evening, and I fell head over heels in love with her. I am totally smitten \u2014 don\u2019t know how I\u2019ll be able to give her up when the time comes \u2014 (but being prepared helps \u2014) she has not left me at all, obeys nearly every word \u2014 I\u2019m teaching her to heel. She is so sweet and loving and gentle \u2014 was evidently mistreated by some fair young man, as she has a hard time letting Robert, Ivan, Larry & Dale (a neighbor) pet her, but clearly loves Zack (her master \u2014 he\u2019s dark and plump) and took to Mark & George right away. She loves women & kids, dogs, cats, horses, & even cows, when she gets near enough. She\u2019s real good with the chickens, helped me herd \u2019em when they got out yesterday, goes into the coop & shares a few snacks with them. (We got a rooster, a leghorn named Charlie. The girls are Anastasia, Arabella, Euridicye, Henrietta, and Biddy and Henny Penny!) (names vary as I often forget)<\/p>\r\nLast night at 9 I got a call from George\u2019s mother in Little Rock, Arkansas, saying she\u2019d put George on the plane (I\u2019d advised her to do this if he got obstreperous) & he\u2019d be at S.F. Internat\u2019l at 2:30 a.m., local time. So after much shilly shallying we set off at 12:55 \u2014 Ivan & Larry couldn\u2019t wake up, so
x<\/strike> I took Robert (can\u2019t leave him alone as he does crazy stuff like turning off the electricity) and our dog\u2019s name<\/span> and axxx<\/strike> stow-away, Purr-foot, the all-black kitty. She\u2019s Robert\u2019s cat, and I guess she felt it was her job to share her master\u2019s fate. I drove through the worst fog I\u2019ve everxxx<\/strike> driven in (tho it was worse coming home) got bad directions to the airport, got there in the nick of time \u2014 (2:40)xxx<\/strike> then our dog\u2019s name<\/span> wouldn\u2019t pee \u2014 no place smelled right to her, so I took her in with my fingers crossed. She was super good! I had tox<\/strike> carry her thru the \u201cno dogs allowed\u201d part, & gave her some lessons in \"heel\u201dx<\/strike> the rest of the time. George was in fine shape, escorted by a steward (I\u2019d never seen an airplane steward before) and we had a nice trip. Had to stop and nap on the way home, which was another first for me \u2014 got to bed at 5:15, and up at 7:45 for an 8:30 appointment. It was some night \u2014 were it not for vitamins I\u2019d have quit about 4:48 and again at 7:48, but fortunately I seem to have survived (on triple vitamin rations) \u2014 even mangedx<\/strike> a long walk withx<\/strike> my new love after it was over \u2014 (she waited for me in the car for an hour while I was interviewing the doctor this morning \u2014 needed a house doctor \u2014 this onexxx<\/strike> said I look too young toxxx<\/strike> have two kids, and I agreed that she looked too young to have graduated from medical school.<\/p>\r\nEnough of all this \u2014 I may have to get Peter to type it so you\u2019ll get it deciphered by next month \u2014<\/p>\r\n
so many thanks for the wonderful goodies, the neat clippings, and
xxx<\/strike> most of all the thoughtfulness.<\/p>\r\nlove,<\/p>\r\n
Marcy<\/p>\r\n
\r\nP.S. Here\u2019s a notice, if you\u2019d care to disseminate it:<\/p>\r\n
Armand is blind & redacted by Jed<\/span>. He is looking for his original foster parents, who have gone to parts unknown. They mean a lot to him; it is thought they could help him bridge some gaps & possibly restore some facilities. Their names are Margot Roch (possibly remarried) and Richard Roch (\u201cCurley.\u201d) Armand is now 19; they had him \u201ctwo-and-a-half to four-and-a-half\u201d as he tells it. If you could look in
x<\/strike> your local phone book, ask friends in various cities, & send me any likely addresses, his devoted foster mother would contact them.<\/p>\r\nThanks!<\/p>\r\n
This boy\u2019s foster parent is a lovely woman who taught music to some of our kids (as well as lots of others) at plumfield school. They all love her immensely. Her own kids are grown & her devotion to Armand is incredible. He\u2019s pretty incredible too. His grasp of English is impressive, considering his emotional age \u2014 he definitely makes you want to find Margot & Curley for him.<\/p>\r\n
(not pronounced Mar-go but Mar-got<\/u>.)<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
Amusing Google Docs OCR errors:<\/p>\r\n
\r\n
- big news: buz beso<\/li>\r\n
- some friends: pone frieds<\/li>\r\n
- chickens: liches<\/li>\r\n
- we set off: cake sex<\/li>\r\n
- neat clippings: most clogponse<\/li>\r\n
- Mar-got: Merbot Presumably a merperson robot.<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n
Notes<\/h2>\r\n
\r\n
- Elizabeth<\/dt>\r\n
- Dobe\u2019s stepdaughter. (I\u2019m not sure exactly when Dobe and V (Elizabeth\u2019s mother) got married; they may not have been married yet at this point.)<\/dd>\r\n
- dog<\/dt>\r\n
- I never knew until now the story of how our dog arrived. If I\u2019m understanding right, this all happened near the end of August, 1974, while Peter and Jay and I were off on vacation. Marcy continues to refer to the dog as our foster dog for the next couple of letters, but the dog ended up staying with us long-term.<\/dd>\r\n
- plumfield school<\/dt>\r\n
- A company called Plumfield was the previous owner of our house; the Hearthlight flyer says that Plumfield had had a group home in that house. I\u2019m not sure whether that\u2019s what Marcy meant by plumfield school<\/i>, or whether there was a school somewhere that was separate from the home.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In which we get a foster dog, and Marcy and Robert and the dog do a late-night drive to pick up George from the airport. \u201cthey\u2019d been adopted by \u2018the most wonderful puppy in the world\u2019 but their landlady was very uptight about dogs\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-marcy","category-hearthlight"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1616"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1616\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1659,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1616\/revisions\/1659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/pmjj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}