Babies and babies

By now, hopefully, everyone has seen Sean and Erin's big news, expecting a baby in February next year.  They posted other news on our Facebook group, about their new house in Maryland and new jobs, but the baby was the big news.  Just wonderful and congratulations!

Right on the heels of that announcement, Leonor slipped into her Tiny Beans photo posting that she and Joe were expecting again, with the due date in March next year, right on the heels of the Maryland birth.  And also wonderful and congratulations.  Being the practical guy, my thoughts go to reserving more cabins at the Poconos!!  And a wider lens to take a photo of the growing clan.  

Not sure there's anything worth reporting after those FANTASTIC updates.

But, here goes.  Mary and I spent the weekend down in Washington with Margaret, and Andrew and a certain young man named Simon.  A barrelful of laughs and wonder; the little guy changes seemingly right in front of our eyes.  We were able to squeeze in visits with a couple of friends and return to our old church, where the minister remembered us by name, even with masks on!  I had a senior moment in ordering a Door Dash meal when Andrew and Margaret escaped for a night out.  I had the meal sent to Joe's old address in DC, so no wonder I couldn't find the meal on the front porch when I received the alert text.  I called the delivery guy (dasher) and overheard him talking to the people at Joe's old house who were complaining that that wasn't what they ordered!

 
There seems to be a common thread in the letter thus far – social media and the gig economy.  And, it continued when we had a conference call with our Encore de la Paix friends as we explored another Gabon project.  After discussing libraries and containers full of books, we settled on putting together a project of teaching English over Zoom.  That way, no travel, no heavy lifting, and, more gigabytes.

Out in Oakland, Annie and Sankar are settling back to their routines, and have found a more permanent home that they will occupy this weekend.  It's in an intentional community, and we look forward to hearing more of what that entails.  Down in Brazil, Leonor's father and step-mother are into their final days of visit, and this past weekend they all traveled to a nearby park full of waterfalls, parrots, swimming holes and hiking trails.  

We also heard from Timmy who was in the midst of his move from Washington to Montana.  And we checked in with John and Marilyn who are doing well in their Covid-free bubble down in Florida.  And from Dundee, we hear that Miles has started basketball practices.  I hear there are scouts in the stands already.

And it's birthday season.  Today is Johanna's big day, and we passed by both Tina's and Paula's.  Happy celebrations to all.  And to mark the occasions, I offer up the following portion of the October 5, 1983 letter, that adds a little to the famous cut-short fishing trip in the Adirondacks:  "It's fun to get calls from Washington.  Mom called last night to relate one more 'progress-things are getting better' report.  She had seen Johanna and was so glad to describe all the emotion of seeing a bright little girl.  Peter and Janet had held her during the day and so normalcy seems to be taking over,  Thank God……. "

Since I have scanned all the weekly letters in the files I kept, I am now going through old boxes of letters and envelopes I saved for the stamps and carted around the world for the past 40 years. I have unearthed a few stray weekly letters that didn't make their way into my files. Better, though, it's been fun to open up letters addressed to New Hampshire, Arlington VA,  and Lagos, many from parents, brothers and sisters-in-law.  First, I need to thank you all for writing over those years, since, as you might guess, getting a letter was so much fun and so special.  Second, though, it points to a bygone time when we actually spent more than a few seconds to reach out to friends and family and even wrote real stuff that mattered in relation to things that were going on in our lives. There was one quote in a weekly letter from Pop who hadn't heard from his sons during the week and asked if we needed pens.  A lost art form unfortunately.

Closing out, the photos here are of outings that parents plan in order for their young children.  Can you spot Donald?  A taste of what's coming your way, Sean and Erin.  Fun and memories.

Love from up here.
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