Letters not from the Abbey

9-15-52

Dear Rich,
Am sitting out on our lawn trying to get a little sun, write a letter, and take care of  my little green-eyed monster, oops-scuse me, I mean ,brother.
Anyway, if this letter sounds rather confusing and I start calling you Joseph Steven, Jody, or honey, or tell
you I may give you a spanking, you'll know that I"m talking to my brother-oops- scuse me, I mean green eyed monster.
 Am I going steady? Now, that's a leading question. No. I'm not. I just can't see it. Of course, I'll admit I do have my favorites.
   It's a good thing I took off my horn rimmed glasses and abandoned my stack of books while I took those pics.
   Seriously though, I really had a good laugh when I read that. I guess my days as Editor of school paper
are showing. It was intentional. I remember my sister and I laughing over the first letter I wrote to you. It was so formal and unlike me. I was really having fun waiting to see your reaction.
Cagey? After all, you could have turned out to be some typical, maladjusted, frustrated, American boy.

Well, my sister is yelling at me to go make the cake, which( in one of my weaker moments) I promised to bake for her.

     If there is anything in this letter you don't understand, just ask me.

  Yes, I would like photos of you.
   Yes, I would like more jokes.                                                       
                                                                                                  Your Bookworm Friend,
                                                                                                         Marty

12-17-1952 A Teenager's simple answers to complex questions.

Richard, shame on you. I'm quite sure that you have no doubt as to the answers of such questions.
I am also convinced that you're testing my knowledge.
Well, as is usually the case when a test is sprung on me--I'm not prepared.

Do we really have a free will?
First of all.
What is a free will. To me, it is the privilege of choosing which side of the road you want to travel.
Right or left? To choose between right and wrong, yes or no.
And, don't we have all these things? Yes, we do. Therefore,  I would say yes, positively yes!
The fact that God knows what is going to happen, and what we are going to choose to do, doesn't make it happen.
There is one example I always remember. If you were on the top of a building looking down on traffic and you see two cars ready to crash.. you know that it is impossible for them to avoid the crash, and they crash, you wouldn't say that you caused the accident, would you?
You'd be stupid if you did. But you knew it. The fact that you knew the crash was going to happen did not cause the crash.

Why did God create us?  I think the answer in the 1st. grade catechism is still my favorite. " To know, love, and serve Him and be happy with Him in this world and the next." Simple, but true.
Could our actions increase His happiness? He being a spiritual being and eternally happy? This is a question that is complex and confusing.
God as a spiritual being (perfectly happy etc.) is pleased when we are good and displeased when we are not. Whether or not this affects His happiness, I am not at all sure. I would say, not exactly. We are told that God was angered when Adam and Eve sinned , and He banished them from Paradise. But He had a counter plan. He would send a Redeemer ( His son) who would die for us in order to make up for our disobedience, since human beings are not able to redeem themselves. But still, God has love for us. That's just it. God has everything, is everything. God is happiness. God is all powerful. God is everything put together to make Him All Perfect. But, he has asked us to do certain things, to make sure we understood this, he wrote  them down on tablets of stone...The Ten Commandments.


God the Son was made man. As such,you will remember,  He was very unhappy.  For example, when Judas betrayed him....when he was crucified. But this is something he allowed. Only God could do this, allow Himself to be saddened, to be killed, to be man. This, to make up for the sins, not only committed before his crucifixion but  til the end of time. He died for our sins also. So, I guess our actions certainly affected his happiness as a man.
I'd better stop before you do become a heretic.
All I have convinced myself of, is that I am not a religion book. But don't despair, when we get to heaven we will  understand.
                                                                                           Heritically Yours,
                                                                                              Marty

                                                                             Probably no such word but aren't I cute.

Proud with a Capital P

Music Man is playing in Seattle at the 5th Avenue Theater.  The musicians from Sealth High School band situated in West Seattle were asked to play at beginning of show on opening day.
March down the aisles playing... one person per instrument.  Here comes the good part. Zoey was chosen to play the snare drum.  How exciting is that!
Plus, Zoey was given two free tickets to the show and was able to bring her friend Mindy.
Another plus, Zoey loved the "Music Man".

Don't just think it.....do it!

Joe and I needed to go to Costco, so we decided to do our daily walk along the Green River. As Joe backed into a parking space I spotted a large bird in a tree. I hoped it was an eagle but we had to get closer to be sure.
It was an eagle.  We were both excited. We continued to walk the trail and spotted a heron in the pond. The  heron was posed and the reflection was so lovely. We also saw geese and ducks. I may have seen a fish jumping in the river, but not sure. We saw another eagle- like bird soaring over us but not sure what it was without binoculars.
I always say the same thing....I should bring my camera. Or, I should carry my binoculars.

Next time I may not see anything worthy of a photo but I will be prepared!

Exploring My teen Years

Since the letters I wrote to my pen pal Richard are a little repetitious, I've decided to share segments that may be interesting enough to print.

5/11/52

I attend night classes in music at Seattle University and work days at Pike Place Public Market.
My Dad has a delicatessen ( actually it was a stall where we sold eggs, cheese, butter, salami).
I work for Dad along with two sisters. My classes at S.U. are Opera Guild and Acapella
Choir.
This year Opera Guild put on a Musical Comedy called "Girl Crazy". I  don't know if you've heard of it but it played on Broadway starring Ethel Merman. They later made it into  a movie starring Judy Garland.
     In Acapella Choir we are Preparing a Spring Concert which will feature music from "Show Boat", "Carousel" and South Pacific.
    We just completed a radio program to be broadcast this summer. These are some of the reasons why I have been slow in writing to you.
    As you can see from my letter, so far, my main interest in life besides my regular schedule, is music and drama.
     I can't see making out a big list of descriptive adjectives about myself....sometime I'll send a photo.
    No, you didn't mention what you do as an M.P. I would like to know.

    There really isn't much else to say since I don't know what interests we have in common. So, Just write and feel free to ask any questions you like.

                                                                                                As Ever,

                                                                                               Marty

P.S. Here's a little something in case you are curious. I have brown hair and green eyes.
   

Teenage Letter from 1952

This is one of the letters I wrote to a pen pal in 1952
What was I thinking?

Richard!
False One! You have deceived me. You promised me the secret ring and now, I can't go on...........
Believe me, I was not flattering you- you're everything I said and more, but enough of that.
Leave it alone.

I'm so excited. I just gave myself an aptitude test in literary ability. I passed with flying colors.
Now I am eligible to take a course in writing. Wow! Now all I have to do is send in a check for $150
to the Magazine Institute. All this because I'm so gifted.

So far, I can't quite believe this letter.I'd tear it up and start another one if I thought it would be better.
Please bear with me.
Guess what? My Dad just came  and took the pen away from me. I don't understand it. Just because
he happens to own it. And now I have struck a new low in the field of letter writing. (two shades of ink and pencil) How humiliating. What would Emily say?
  Run into any more stray Turks?  We had our share of that sort of thing last summer. When the Spanish Navy was here in Seattle they decided to buy eggs from our store in Pike Place Market. ( Excuse me, I mean huevos) Of course it took us about two hours to figure this out. This went on for 3 or 4 months. What fun! Then when it was time for them to sail away, one of the sailors asked my sister Barbara a question, and she answered "yes". It turned out he had asked her if she loved him. (wait, it gets better) If that wasn't enough he and another friend wanted Barbara and me too sail away to Mexico. Just for kicks. I really don't know
how we got out of that one.

Saw "South Pacific" the other night. Wasn't impressed.

 Danny Kaye is bringing a show here in a week or so. I think I'll see it. I feel like a good laugh.
    All I can say at the end of this letter is....Such humor! Such intelligence! Such Crust!


                                                        That's all for now
                                                         Funny one,
                                                         Marty

Mark's Wedding

       

                                         The Happy Couple

      

                        My beautiful sister Barbara, bride, groom and our lovely nieces, Angela and Julie

      

    

                                   Mr. and Mrs. Mark Hammontree and our lovely niece Claudia

A save that worked

I contacted my niece Colette, to see if she would like the notes she sent me when she was going through
chemo. Surprisingly, she said she would like to see what she wrote while in a drug induced state!
So once again I'm glad I didn't toss!