May 1, 1973 (Letter from Renee)

I received your letter yesterday and, as usual, was delighted to hear form you once again.  I should have taken the initiative to write to you sooner but I've sort of been up to my ears in work with the close of the school year at hand.  (I also had to wait till Morrey installed a new ribbon in the old typewriter since the old one was about shot!)  Glad to hear you're working -- sorry to hear you're not enjoying it much.  These days one has to be thankful to just have a paying job -- but I understand very well how miserable and frustrating it is to feel stifled and uncreative in a job -- I went that route before I started teaching.  So very glad to hear that you are going to grad school in the fall.  I envy you since I really want to go back myself and pick up all the courses I never could fit in which would assist me greatly in my present capacity.  I am planning on going back one of these days but I'd prefer to get my masters in one lump of time rather than in summer or at night.  Another great thing about your being in Pittsburgh is the fact that it is a simple 3 hr freeway ride from Pitt to Columbus and I'm hoping that you'll take advantage of that fact, and of the Prayzer hospitality and come for a visit once3 in awhile.  We absolutely adore our new place and it is much like having a house and Morrey and I are really enjoying it.

Getting rather domestic -- we finally purchased my "longed for" washer and dryer and I no longer have to make that awful trek to the laundry every Sunday which really irks me -- although Morrey and I have been very democratic and we take turns every other Sunday.  (women's lib, ha,ha!)  Gee Paul, I really do miss you (believe it or not) cause it seems like a year and a millenium since I had a chance to sit down with someone I could really talk intelligently with.  Sometimes I kind of yearn for the old days when we had time to sit around and "shoot the shit" so to speak.  Between my job, and our married life it's hard sometimes to sit down and really talk about anything other than "what we're doing tomorrow, and what we've got to do next week".

School is really getting to me -- it's that time of year again.  The kids are antsy and I am equally as antsy.  There are many facets of my job that can be extremely frustrating at times -- and lately I've had more of those times than I'd like.  I do very much enjoy my teaching and I feel as though I'm improving and getting somewhere,m but sometimes I feel really bogged down my it all and the good points seem far outweighed by the bad.  I've learned a lot this year and hope that the experience will benefit me next year -- ich -- next year -- I hate to think of it.  All I can think of at the moment is that long, peaceful, and kidless summer which lies ahead like a distant oasis in which I seek refuge!  (How's that for seeming literary?)

I am not planning on doing a darn thing constructive this summer.  It's back to being a good housewife and all that jazz -- which I can really enjoy as long as I know it lasts only 3 months!  Really, though, I'm planning on painting our basement, decorating it and the rest of the house for that matter!  I've got loads to do to keep me busy -- and I plan to really put a good deal of time just catching up with my reading.  I'm reading Eleanor and Franklin right now which is a good book but rather laborious reading.  I guess my tastes in reading run along the non-fiction, biography types.  I just finished reading My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok -- which is excellent and I really enjoyed it.  Morrey and I went to see "Soylent Green" over the weekend and I have never been so upset by a flick in my life.   It is so very realistic that it horrifies me to think about it -- but it is a must for you to see.

Morrey and I plan to spend a good deal of our vacation (the first two weeks in July) at the cottage in Warren and I'm hoping we get together for a few visits and "campfire chats", -- oops that should read "fireside"!  My parents are moving to an apartment in my grandfather's house in Jackson Street sometime this month.  It's the second house from the corner on Jackson right off of Conewango.  I think my mother will be much happier there and my father is fixing it up pretty nicely.  I'm sure that my dad would be more than glad to see you Paul if you ever have the desire to ride out to the cottage for awhile.  He's already opened the cottage for the summer and I know that you'd be a welcome sight to my dad since the days get pretty long and lonely for him.  Morrey and I will be home for Memorial Day weekend at the end of this month -- so please feel free to drop by the cottage then -- or call if you can't come.  The more the merrier as I've always said.

Well it's ten o'clock and I turn into a mean bitch (not a fairy princess) if I don't get enough sleep -- especially when I have to face those kids so early in the morning.  Sometimes they're enough to give a person "morning sickness" -- Don't worry I'm not pregnant!!

Please take care and be well Paul and write again soon when you can.  Sorry about the terrible, awful typing but I'm rushing to get everything said and therefore I'm careless with the way I type it out.  As long as you can read and comprehend, I won't worry about the grammatics.