April 3, 1977 (Letter from Kathy)

Have the typewriter out to type a letter for Gary, so decided to get a little much needed practicing in on you!!

Gary's out in the garage helping a 14 year old neighbor with his motorcycle.  This kid has pretty neat parents.  The kind I'm sure Gary wishes he would have had sometimes.  Imagine his parents supporting him in his motorcycles and actually standing out in the desert on a freezing windy day to watch -- no way!!  They don't even want to talk about it on the phone.

We are headed for a 170 mile race from Burns to Bend, Oregon on April 16th.

I had a week off in March that coincided with a trip that my neighbor was taking to San Francisco and Sacramento to visit her Mother in a convalescent home.  Gary had no objection to me going. (He planned to lose 5 pounds while I was gone.  It's my fault he's 5-10 pounds overweight because if we weren't' married he wouldn't come home and wind up in front of the TV and could ride his bike every night instead.  How's that for shifting the blame?  We had a good chuckle over that -- especially when he didn't lose any weight while I was gone.)   Anyway, we spent over 20 hours with her Mom that week and got plenty of shopping, eating, driving, and spending in!!!

We'll be glad to see spring arrive for real and for the wind to stop huffing everything 10 houses away.  Not sure how much we will be affected by the drought in the Northwest.  We may be in an area that's unpopulated enough that we may still be able to maintain yards.  Time will tell.

We have a community water system here and the board election comes up May 2.  We really have to put our heads together in this neighborhood to keep out the guys who can profit from being on the board.  I dread the upcoming election.  The neighborhood is split over a dog shooting.  What a mess!!

Thank you for your invitation.  We get one every year from Gary's relatives for their annual July 4th celebration.  If we got home we could party all day!!

Imagine Mardi and Marti would have been a little chocked over twins.  Always thought I'd like to have twins -- but a boy and girl the first time.  Don't expect too much do I?

Gary's job is continuing to go well and mine also.  Think I've got the most progressive dentist in Idaho and if not, certainly the office with the most benefits.  He mellows a little every year as he becomes happier with himself and gives us less static.

We had thought that Gary would get a company car about now, but come to find out that the parts manager has been there 13 years and never offered a car, so Gary just doesn't know now whether he'll get one or not.  We did sell the Corvette back to the guy that we bought it from and Gary has been riding his motorcycle (one of them I should say) to work and on the colder mornings I drop him off.  I still worry a little that maybe he's not sure whether he wants to be there or not, but then other days I think I'm just reading him wrong.  I know he has a lot of responsibility there and pressure.  Thank my lucky stars that I have the job I have with good working conditions, good hours, and good pay.

Glad to hear you are feeling "settled in".  Little surprised too that we haven't gotten a card from some distant or near state, but figured you found your niche.

We did have a neat time in Pa for the holidays.  I really love to visit, but there's not a whole lot that I miss from there.  I love the independence that our location gives us.  Know we never could live in the same town with Gary's parents.  They would drive us to divorce.  Feel now that our marriage is better than it has ever been.  Sometime, I don't remember or how but I expected the fact that Sunday is Gary's day in the desert.  I plan Sunday for myself to do "my" things, even if that means saving the cleaning and cooking.  Actually I've been reading novels, which I can get lost in for days if I let myself.

I can lose myself just as easily in the garden for an afternoon and not even think of it as work -- it's therapy from the routine of the weeks I guess.  It's really neat how we grow.

Gosh, I sure am rattling away.  How come (no, why) -- starting to talk like the farmers -- do I get so thoughtful when I write to you?  I would guess because your letters always seem so thoughtful and get me in the mood.

My boss brought out a load of manure for my garden today.  I offered his son the part I didn't plan to use since they don't have room for one.  Gary and I went food shopping while they rototilled the manure in on their side, came back to find it all done.  Sure thought that was nice.

Kind of looking forward to our 10 year class reunion, sometimes wondering though if I really care what happened to many of them.  It almost made me feel good that I didn't remember Rick Hackett (that doesn't even sound right) when I saw him at the gym at Christmas.  Linda Dies said, "gee, you guys must not look at your yearbook much."  Seems another life away to have gone to high school there.  Wow -- Gary just put the light on.  Guess it was getting dark -- been writing all afternoon.

Enough is enough -- take care.

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.

July 22, 1972 (Letter from Renee)

So sorry it has taken me so long in responding to your last letter.  I guess I've been kind of lazy and just this week got around to cleaning the debris off my desk so that I could begin to do a little work.  I have really been enjoying my summer vacation and it has been pleasant and uneventful for the most part.  I guess one could say that my status at t his point is strictly as a housewife and I'm kind of enjoying it.  I have been reading a lot -- in fact that is what occupies 75% of my time these days.  Haven't been reading anything earthshaking or pertinent -- but I've enjoyed it just the same.

I spent a little time just cleaning and re-organizing our apartment.  We finally got some new living room furniture much to our delight, and we really settled down in many ways that we never were before.  I can't exactly describe it but Morrey and I have finally achieved some sort of financial security, our home is now complete with the furniture we want, and we both are doing exactly what we want to do without anything holding us back or getting in our way.

I'm beginning to feel quite guilty because so far I haven't done a thing about my lesson plans and materials for next year yet and I'm getting kind of itchy to do so.  I was a pretty lousy teacher by my own standards last year and I aim to do much to improve that situation.  Even if it means that I have to be a tough-assed bitch at times I'm determined to be that way as long as the kids know who is boss and meet my expectations of them. This year instead of being afraid of the kids and having them know I'm afraid -- the tables are going to be switched and they will have to live a little bit in terror of Prayzer the English teacher in room 2061.

I was home in Warren for a week after the 4th of July and was bored stiff, which is what I should have expected.  It was a pleasant visit with my parents and I just kind of enjoyed sitting around doing nothing and being responsible for nothing.  Morrey didn't mind that I stayed on in Pa. and I think that it does us good once in a while to be separated.  Absence makes that old heart grow fonder so they say -- and I'll agree.  We plan on returning to Warren the weekend of August 19th for my high school reunion -- which will probably turn out to be a gigantic fiasco and waste of time -- but I can't help being curious to see how some of my classmates turned out.

I can't tell you how impressed I am with the letters you have been writing to me.  They really paint a picture of you Paul - and one that I admire and respect a great deal.  I can see that you are still independent and are enjoying it and also that you are a very flexible type of person.  You seem to have certain goals well defined for yourself yet then you leave enough room i there for being yourself and not getting into any fixed groove or bind.  I'm also very glad to hear that you have been reading a good deal and enjoying it.  I must admit -- I'm way far behind you in the quality of works we read.  I am not a disciplined reader and I would choose 9 times out of ten some \junk on the best seller list than to ever go back to the classics and really dig deep!

I really must admit Paul that at the moment I'm not much in the letter writing mood and I'm not getting too much said that I want to say in this letter for that reason.  (Besides the fact that Morrey is kissy-facing and bugging me at the moment.)

I hope you will forgive me for the brevity of this letter and I promise to write at greater length and with more substance in my next letter to you.

Meantime I hope you are enjoying yourself in sunny California.  We've had a heat wave here for the last week and it's 93 and really miserable outside.  God bless air-conditioned apartments.

Please keep in touch and write again soon.