A Letter

Forgive me, but in the hopes of saving some time, I'm posting a letter I sent today, updating some friends of our family activities, and the fact that my dad is now home from the hospital. Here it is...

Dear, dear, Friends,

It’s about time I send another update to you about our Poppy!

But first, we hope this letter finds you in good health and as happy as our hearts let us be.

Poppy is home!! He returned to the Residence not quite two weeks ago. Boy, what a change for the better he has undergone. For now at least, he’s alert, holds full conversations (even some wise guidance for me), eats in the dining room, and cracks jokes! He’s nearly my dear old Dad again! Unfortunately, he doesn’t walk much. His legs are still weak from spending nearly two months in bed, but he continues physical therapy as well as practicing in his room when he has enough strength.

Next week, he’ll be moving! An apartment opened downstairs, and since he’s a fall risk, plus he needs a little more personal service from the staff. The room allows more access to the care giving staff, enabling them to check on him more often. I do not remember the room number right now, but he will be in the very same building, nearly directly below his current apartment, so I’m sure that anything you send will get to him.

We are so thankful he’s home again and in fairly good health (for an old guy!)

It looks as if other good news will be coming his way soon, too. It appears there is a little known VA benefit for Merchant Marines/Coast Guard members from World War II. These folks were just assigned “veteran” status, and financial aid plus a few other benefits are beginning to filter through the administrative nightmare known as the Veteran’s Administration. I hope this thing does happen for him; it will mean he won’t have to dig deeper into his savings.

As for our family, we’re still quite busy. I’m happy to report that Sarah’s soccer team holds 2^nd place in their division, and tomorrow they’ll play their second playoff game. If they win this game, they will continue on to semi-finals and be guaranteed a trophy. Sarah is so excited about soccer; this is the first time she’s been on a winning team! (It’s also the first season she’s ever been involved with competition). We’re quite proud of her. We see her report card next week, and after seeing her grades on tests, we fairly confident she’ll bring home very good grades. She sure is growing up fast!

Emily loves her school; she had to miss one day because of a slight fever and she remained sad the whole day. I guess her mommy makes it pretty boring for her when she stays home. She also loves her gymnastics class, performing “V-sits” and standing on her hands or head constantly. We call her the little Monkey Mankey. She is beautiful like her sister, and joyous. She makes my days easier and gives me many laughs throughout the day.

Our Em has a great imagination, too. One day, she started us on the idea of changing our home into a house-sized play place. She put a climbing structure, a gym room, a swimming pool, gaming, in different rooms of our house. She even suggested a slide from the upstairs (which we don’t have) down to the gym room. She has it all figured how we can accomplish this!

Scott has moved on from the production he was working on. You may have heard of it: Chicken Little. It opened in wide release last Friday, November 4. Disney is very happy with this feature, as it made a huge profit on its first weekend. We hope this next weekend will be the same. Scott works now on a production called “Meet the Robinsons”—we’ve been privy to some early ads for this film, and it looks great. Scott is very happy to be on this production; he thinks it will shine with a good story and great animation. He is grateful to work with such talented people and at such a great company.

I’m doing just fine, struggling to keep up with our home as it slowly explodes with toys, games and sports equipment. My health is greatly improved, now that I’ve restricted my caffeine intake especially. I have been told that what I experienced is called Paroxysmal Supra-Ventricular Tachycardia, otherwise known as sudden rapid heart beat. Duh. I’ve seen a cardiologist and had echocardiograms and now get to look forward to follow up appointments. I’ve been given another prescription to regulate my heart beat, called Flecainide. I get to take it twice each day, to make sure my heart doesn’t try to run a marathon without me. I am doing better, and have decided it might be time to wake up and take better care of myself. Fat fight, here I come!

Well, that’s the news from Leonard and the Mankeys. We so appreciate you continuing to write your letters, and occasionally phone him. He just beams when any of you contact him. He faithfully reads letters, yet his handwriting has deteriorated so he is not able to write back to you.

This really was not intended to be a booklet, but at least you are all updated on our family. My apologies again for making this another mass mailing, but it sure expedites getting the news out to you! If I didn’t do it this way, there is no telling when I’d actually be able to write to you.

Again, please, take care of yourselves and each other.

Hugs,

Charmaine, Leonard, & family

P.S. Poppy’s address is still: 5900 Chapman Ave, Garden Grove, CA 92845, and his phone number is 714-890-9544.