our street address<\/span><\/p>\r\nSanta Rosa, Cal. 95401<\/p>\r\n
January 23, 1975<\/p>\r\n
Dear Parents --<\/p>\r\n
We are very sorry to be so unconscionably late in sending our gifts to you -- especially since we had finished making them by 12\/20 or so, but have been as busy as a gaggle of whirligigs, mostly running around in circles...<\/p>\r\n
Helen underlined the phrase \u201ca gaggle of whirligigs<\/i>,\u201d and wrote in the margin: \u201ctypical of P\u2014\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\nI guess you know that Larry & Robert are no longer with us ... very likely by summer Mark & George will be gone too ... Alameda County (Oakland) doesn\u2019t want to pay our fee anymore for Mark (they think he\u2019s too sane), and George becomes more & more unbearable & unmanageable every day -- a real yo-yo.<\/p>\r\n
But we are probably going to stick with Ivan: we can set up an arrangement called guardianship--you\u2019re probably both familiar with it, it\u2019s almost like adoption, in that we can go anywhere with him, without asking permission, and would not have to live in a home passing the Dept. of Mental Hygiene standards, such as 144 sq.ft. bedrooms, each with an outside exit, etc. However, we would continue to collect the $400 per month for his support.<\/p>\r\n
Well, we considered very carefully your advice that I should \u201cget a job\u201d (whenever I hear that phrase I\u2019m reminded of the Coasters\u2019 great hit of 1955: \u201cget a job, ya-da-da-da, ya-da-da-da-da, get a job...\u201d): anyway, we came to the conclusion that you\u2019re right: we were getting stuck in a rut, staying home all the time, never punching a time clock, and collecting all that tax-free money! (in 15 months, we spent about $28,000, yet it worked out that we owed no state or federal income tax ... incredible!)<\/p>\r\n
Helen underlined the phrase \u201cwe considered very carefully your advice that I should \u2018get a job\u2019\u201d; in the margin, she added:<\/span> But only \u201cconsidered\u201d<\/p>\r\nSo I\u2019ll be looking for a job, while we sell the house, find a new one to jump to, get Marcy established in her new school-routine (she starts on Monday, taking (1) \u201cCalifornia Archaeology\u201d, (2) a senior-level anthropology seminar about scientific revolutions & radical shifts in Weltanschauung, and (3) \u201cArchaelogical Field Methods\u201d ... (14 credits) at California State College, Sonoma (in Cotati (about 8 or 9 miles from here).), and continue through it all to take care of the five kids and maintain a nurturing home for them.<\/p>\r\n
In Marcy\u2019s handwriting, in margin:<\/span> I\u2019m an \"unclassified graduate student\u201d in the Anthro dept.<\/p>\r\nI do have one job offer so far, in fact it\u2019s a double one -- I would be teaching mathematics and English in a college, and Marcy would be teaching English as well. There would be many fringe benefits such as: being allowed to participate in some of the exciting physics & parapsychology research being done there; being supplied a house or apartment (in a city where living-quarters are scarce and expensive); being allowed to use the medical & dental facilities at the college, for free; and especially, the privilege of learning a foreign language and coming to know & appreciate another country\u2019s culture: because, as you may have guessed, the college is Kyu-Sei College, located in Kyoto, Japan, which is known far & wide as one of the very most beautiful cities in the world (U.S. bombers purposely avoided Kyoto during the War, for this reason...)<\/p>\r\n
But we have not accepted this offer yet: we\u2019re still thinking and praying about what we\u2019re supposed to do next.<\/p>\r\n
Another possibility (I think I told you already) is moving to 150-200 acres in Mendocino, there to take care, with 6-8 other counselors & their children, of 10-15 disturbed teenage boys, also maintaining livestock (chickens, goats), gardens, orchards, and a school. This enterprise would bring in about $120,000 to $150,000 per year, which would suffice very well to pay the bills, salaries, allowances, mortgage, and all expenses. Also, it would provide a very healthy emotional & physical environment for a 30-odd member survival community (though some of the 30 would be pretty<\/u> odd<\/u>!...)<\/p>\r\n
Anyway, we are confident that God will reveal to us, at the right time & in the right way, the right thing for us to do, with the right people, in the right place--right? Thank you for your prayers, & support, & beautiful gifts... Love,<\/p>\r\n
Peter & Marcy & Jed & Joaquin*<\/p>\r\n
In margin:<\/span> *also Ivan says hello--he liked you both very much when you were here, & often says he\u2019d hopes to see you again... I guess you have a foster grandson...<\/p>\r\nThe next page is in Marcy\u2019s handwriting, and starts in mid-sentence. I assume that sentence was meant as a continuation of Peter\u2019s phrase \u201c& beautiful gifts...,\u201d above.<\/span><\/p>\r\n...beautiful gifts most especially The Galloping Gourmet thingie. I really love it, use it for everything. Haven\u2019t seen ones like it or the pictures, here, but it sure beats traditional wooden spoons. Spurtles, huh?<\/p>\r\n
And the trains. They were about a 3-day wonder till George used the transformer for a slingshot and then we packed \u2019em up till next year. They were a super x<\/strike> big hit.<\/p>\r\n
Peter loved the jigsaw puzzle. He put it together then the boys (particularly Mark) dis-assembled it in sections and re-assembled it.<\/p>\r\n
The clothes were great, as usual. Particularly famous is the woof shirt for Joaquin. Another box of clothes came at the same time, so I\u2019m not clear exactly what was what. Quin wears size 4 pantsx<\/strike> and shirts, Jed size 7 shirts (long as possible to cover the tummy) and 6 or 7 pants, depending on the waistline. Both could use sox (size is so variable I can never recall) and long-sleeve pull-over shirts, and Jed needs pants. There was a black pair you sent that he\u2019s worn nearly every day since then. That\u2019s the way he wears clothes - he\u2019d wear the xxx<\/strike> same shirt & underwear every day too, if I\u2019d let him.<\/p>\r\n
On big kids clothes: their taste is so incredible, and x<\/strike> it has to be a certain style - different for each kid.<\/p>\r\n
Ivan: western shirts, size 16<\/p>\r\n
jeans or bell-bottoms, waist 28, length 29 xxx<\/strike><\/p>\r\n
Mark: corduroy pants size 16<\/p>\r\n
football or other athletic shirts size 16<\/p>\r\n
George: pullovers & jerseys, plain colors size 20.<\/p>\r\n
prefers turtleneck, long sleeves<\/p>\r\n
pants size unknown<\/p>\r\n
for sox, they all insist on these awful tube sox, with colored stripes at the top, tho George will wear plain colors. But they go thru \u2019em so fast it\u2019s incredible.<\/p>\r\n
Mark also loves those Hawaiian shirts - he appropriated the one you sent for Peter as fast as I could get it off of Peter\u2019s back. I can\u2019t stand \u2019em myself, and Peter was teasing me by insisting he was going to wear it every day. I don\u2019t xxx<\/strike> mind if Mark wears \u2019em, but not Peter.<\/p>\r\n
The brown look-alike sweaters were great. \u2019Cept I wear the large one and gave the small one away. Then Peter inadvertently washed it. Haven\u2019t tried it since. Got lots of compliments for it too. Of the nature of \u201cThat looks nice\u2014It must be a gift.\u201d (like, \u201cyou<\/u> would never pick out anything like that...\u201d)<\/p>\r\n
I\u2019m so excited over school starting that I can\u2019t see straight. Three courses I\u2019ll really love, 14 credits which will get me a full xxx<\/strike> lifetime teaching credential in California and a total of 22 towards that elusive xxx<\/strike> M. A. in whatever it will be. I already have a job offer from a former neighbor who\u2019s now a field anthropologist, when I know enough.<\/p>\r\n
David & Karen\u2019s visit was lovely but far too short. Somehow, we\u2019ll have to get up there next summer. The pear butter was devoured, of course.<\/p>\r\n
The house is for xxx<\/strike> sale - a banker is coming today to appraise it for a loan for some people who want to have a group home for 7 kids, and want it by March 1. I frankly don\u2019t think it\u2019s going through, but I do have to go help clean up.<\/p>\r\n
So I\u2019ll stop with a repetition of thanks for the lovely presents, and a wish for a Happy Birthday, Grandma, in case our combination package doesn\u2019t get there in time.<\/p>\r\n
Interjected in Peter\u2019s handwriting:<\/span> \u201cOmedeto Gozaimasu\u201d (congratulations) & Happy Birthday! & many happy returns, Mother...<\/p>\r\nMuch love,<\/p>\r\n
Marcy<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
Amusing Google Docs OCR error:<\/p>\r\n
\r\n - Mother: Matharina<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n