Old letters

I just read through three letters I wrote in 1991 and 1992. Thanks to Paul for sending them. I thought I had kept them but they got lost somewhere along the way. I’m glad he had them!

One was to a judge over a ticket I got from a backpacking trip. It’s quite amusing. I open with an exhortation to read the whole thing and follow it with 10 pages (!!!) of colorfully imparted story about the trip. I was a real pain even back then, but it was a good read!

One was to a formerly very close friend in response to her announcement that she was leaving her husband. That was just a couple of months before I got engaged (that was something of a ‘defining’ experience for me, and I suppose for Edi, too). That letter, more than the others, revealed a mix of you might say ‘textbook’ knowledge (of the good sort, really), but a lack of real world understanding of it. Though much of what I said was right, I would present my thoughts very differently now. On one hand, I knew their divorce was a bad, ugly thing. In some respects my observations were more right than I even knew then. But I was not quite 17 at the time, never married, and not so wise to the sometimes unfortunate realities of life. I now reread my own writing realizing it was maybe therapeutic but unpersuasive. Her ex-husband and I remain good friends to this day…

And then there was the first ever Red Letter, which I wrote in the summer of 1992 between my trip to Borneo (missionary work) and my trip to Japan (a music tour). This comment stuck out:

Yes, crossing the date line 4 times in 6 weeks is hard on a person, but somebody has to do it.

Hah! I’ve crossed the date line 4 times in 6 days since then. Once, I crossed it 10 times in just over 2 weeks. I had one trip where I crossed it an odd number of times (three, to be exact… and I have yet to ‘unwind’). Who knew, then, that I’d be doing all this now. On the other hand, I suppose it’s a bit unusual that I was doing that then. In fact, I talked about my Borneo trip in my interview for this job. Maybe I’ll tell the rest of that story some day…

These letters really are an interesting read, for me anyway. In some respects, I’ve obviously matured some. Some of my goals have changed, and it was very interesting to read my ‘plan’ in the red letter. I was aiming for: Comair Aviation Academy student, Comair Aviation Academy instructor, Comair Airlines pilot, Delta Airlines pilot. 3 out of 4 ain’t bad, and I’m glad I didn’t go to work for Delta. I also predicted that my parents would stay at their address “for the next hundred and forty six years”. 15 down, 131 to go.

And, in the “some things never change” department, I closed that first red letter with a Bible verse and commentary:

“They said to him “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know” – John 9:12 (RSV)
(This has been asked by many people about me. snicker snicker)

V-