My Mother's Letters: 37 Years Ago Today

I just found this letter among the stack of my mother's writings. It dates back to exactly 37 years ago today, when I was just about 9 months old. The letter brings back (vague) memories of Columbus, Ohio, where I spent the first few years of my life. I remember Ohio as being very FLAT, and that the sky looked HUGE. I remember riding my tricycle around our driveway and our block. I remember getting my hands sticky with the sap that came out of the trees in our backyard...

I DON'T remember teething, which apparently made me a not-so-pleasant baby to be around.

As a side note, in this letter my mother refers to getting our photos taken at Sears. I still have the pics of me from this "photo shoot." Apparently the photographers at Sears loved my photo so much they put it up at the store. I guess my 15 seconds of fame happened when I was nine months old. It's all been downhill from there :)

Dearest Mom and Dad –

It’s kind of early to have exciting news, but life is full of surprises. No – I’m not pregnant… rather, I have a part-time job for six weeks this summer – leading the mother & toddler summer program at the Jewish Center. It’s three mornings – Wednesday,Thursday, Friday, 9 – 11:30 am, a week, in the grassy area by the wading pool – cancelled in case of rain - $20 a session. It’s a little extra money (maybe we’ll get a color TV) plus a chance to try out some new, outdoor-oriented art, music & physical activities. It will cut into our project-finishing time, and telescope each of our free-time hours, and cut into our recreating time a little. It changes the outlook of the next several weeks considerably.

Other news – the corn is as high as an elephant’s eye (?) Well, anyway, our garden is flourishing – there’s been lots of rain in the last few days… We’ve got a nest of baby robins in our Russian olive tree in the backyard… Seth and Ariel repainted the front door yesterday; today Seth put a second child seat on his bike, so we can go out riding both kids together. Meanwhile, I was sweeping out and trying to organize the garage – it’ll take another day or two to get it all sorted out.

Dvora is definitely cutting new teeth – her waking hours are erratically fitful and unhappy, though she exhausts herself during the day and sleeps pretty well at night. By August, when you visit, she’ll probably have a mouthful of teeth, be walking and possibly saying a few words – her bye-bye is getting more consistent and she mimics our sounds when she can.

Ariel keeps talking about November, New York and you – we had a big discussion about how nice it would be if we lived nearby and could have frequent visits, and why we don’t – even to the point of promising that when she’s a teenager she can fly by herself to visit you and then fly back to us. She painted some beautiful paintings for you today – her own idea – as an afterthought she asked for extra paper to paint some quickies for us.

Nothing much left to write – I’m taking the kids for new pictures at Sears and hope to pick up a new lamp for Ariel’s room and make her new laminated shades today – not much on the agenda.

We love you. Happy Birthday and Happy Fourth of July!

Love,

Sandy, Seth, Ariel and Dvora