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To All Absentee Daughters Have you talked to your brother lately? He got married, you know. We had a nice wedding and he wanted to send you an invitation, but we weren’t sure where to send it. Besides, I thought you were on the road with that truck driver again. Uncle Jacob got drunker than a skunk and the boys had to take him home. He sat in the backseat of the Caddie with the windows rolled down, and sang “She’ll be coming ‘Round the Mountain when she Comes” all of the way home. I sure hope he wasn’t referring to the bride’s mother. Derrick was the ring bearer. All of the relatives swore he looked just like your dad. I thought he was mighty handsome. Aunt Anna died last year . She was your dad’s auntie you know. He stayed with her for a while when he was in high school and never forgot how much he enjoyed being there. He always talked about the knipfla and strudel she made on Saturday afternoons. I got her recipe once and tried it, but he said mine tasted more like his mother’s. I don’t know if that was a compliment or not, but I kind of think not. I still wonder what her magic ingredient was. Old Rocko died last winter. Dad went up stairs one morning after he got off work and found him lying at the foot of your bed. It looked like he died in his sleep, . You know, after you left, he never went near your room until then. He sure did miss you the last two summers, but then we all did. You asked how your boys are. Derrick is growing so tall, you wouldn’t recognize him. He took the training wheels off of his bike this spring, all by himself. He was real proud of that. It is to bad you weren’t here to see the first time he went around the block without them. Your dad’s tools were scattered from one end of the driveway to the other, and I think there were even a few planted in the end of the garden by the raspberry bushes. Derrick and Taylor both just love to play in the dirt there because it is so soft. Do you remember when you and your sister tied your brother up there and left him. We would never have figured out where he was if we hadn’t heard Rocko barking and whining. Were you really playing cowboys and Indians like you said? He said you were just being mean to him, remember? Dad finally got around to re-roofing the garage, but he had to take time off from work to do it. We really couldn’t afford to do that, because the plant has been cutting back on everyone’s hours, and well, we have had more expenses since you left the boys here. Derrick has developed asthma since you left, and needs nebulizer treatments twice a day. The medicine for the treatments costs about $200 per month, and our insurance isn’t covering as much since dad’s hours were cut back. I may have to get a job at Walmart to cover the medicine. The doctors say we should remodel their bedroom and take out the carpet, but there just isn’t any paycheck left at the end of the month. Usually plenty of month left at the end of the paycheck. You mentioned that you were worried about Taylor, that he wasn’t learning very fast and might have to be in special classes. I think he is doing real well. We taught him to run and we were always picked him up when he fell, We were always there to kiss the boo boos and wipe the tears away. We taught him to laugh when the wind tickles his face, and his laughter is so much fun. It is deep and chuckly like yours. Sometimes it sounds just like water running in the creek. He has learned to give butterfly kisses, and tries to give them to the new puppy whenever he can. Yesterday he tried to kiss the wrong end of the puppy though. I know you didn’t want the boys to have a puppy, but we found one that reminded dad of the Trixie dog he had when he was just a boy. He hopes that this dog is just as loyal to the little boys as Trixie was to him. Derrick named him Banana. So cute, Hannah, just like when he used to try and call you by your first name. He is trying to teach the puppy to roll over and play dead. He says he wants to surprise you when you come home. He used to ask all of the time when that would be, but he hasn’t asked so much since we got the puppy. I am hoping that he will forget you promised to be home after you ran to the store. It’s been almost two years now. Taylor still crawls in bed with us almost every night. He lays there and whimpers for a while, and kicks all the covers off, then he settles down and we can all get some sleep. Both boys came to us every night right after you left, but Derrick has been staying in his own bed all night for the last couple months. He thinks he has to be a big boy now that he is going to start kindergarten. I look and look at him, but try as I might, I can’t see a big boy. Just big blue eyes rimmed with the longest and darkest eyelashes. They brim over with tears when Bambi loses his mother, and they sparkle with laughter whenever he gets your dad with yet another knock-knock joke. He is still so small, I think you could snap his wrist between your fingers. He is way down below the bottom of the growth chart, and the Doctor says that if he didn’t know better, he’d think the kid was starved. Ha. Ha. You know your dad and his German food. The more cream the better, and if three meals are good, then four must be better. Bad part is dad and I are gaining weight faster than the boys. They do love his cooking and are so polite when he makes a special snack. They always used to say, “Thank-You grampa,” but lately they have been calling him papa. Once in awhile I slip up and call him Dad or Paul like I did when you kids were young. Taylor picked up on that real fast, and called him Dad at supper last night. You should have seen your father’s face! Your boys are doing just fine. They
saw your graduation picture on our dresser the other day. I asked
them if they knew who it was, but they didn’t seem to know,
I wonder if they were just trying to fool me.. The Department
of Family Services called Friday, asking if your address had changed,
as they had tried to contact you several times without results.
I gave them the last address we had, but the lady said that they
had already tried that one and all the letters had been returned
to them. It seems they are going to terminate parental rights
as you haven’t had anything to do with the boys for too long.
Court Date is in a month, on the fourth. We are hoping things
will be cleared up, and the paperwork done shortly after that,
and we can adopt them. Yes, our boys are doing very well thank
you. We hope you are doing as well, and will call again soon. |
