In memory of Patrick Meadows and Stephanie Shepard
Letters to and from Patrick from over the years. I am attempting to remove last names in the interest of privacy. Many of his old letters are undated. When that happens I make an educated guess (in terms of posting dates for this web site) but I could be wildly off in some cases.
I’m not exactly sure when I wrote this, but based on the Gary Hart reference, it may have been on 8 May 1987. (You can click on the image to see a larger version of it.)
The job reference confirms that it was some time of May 1987. Mary was flying in because Dean and I were celebrating, with our respective girlfriends, five years at our respective aerospace firms. Indeed, I even had a cake made for after dinner that read “FFY” for “five years.”
Here’s a postcard I sent to Gretchen (c/o Patrick) on 6 April 1987. Not much news but included for the completeness of the record. (Click on it to see a larger version.)
About the Mary reference: Mary and I had driven to Vegas for my birthday celebration, but I failed to make hotel reservations. It was snowing up there, but we walked around and had dinner and enjoyed the sites, such as they are. I couldn’t find a place for us to stay so we drove to Henderson, still couldn’t find anything. We finally traveled over Hoover Dam through heavy snow and stopped for the night in Kingman, following big trucks, who cleared the tracks for us, in my Karmann Ghia. She was quite angry with and thought we were going to die.
Another letter from Patrick, this one dated 17 March 1975. Those were desperate times for me, but how much they shaped my future I can’t say.
Patrick sent me this post card in July 1975, trying to reach me in Phoenix. As a result, we reconnected in person after a decade’s absence. I was 19.
That summer trip and the events that followed deserve several chapters in a book I’ll likely never write.
Here’s a letter from Patrick dated 24 January 1975, shortly after we’d resumed corresponding.
Here’s a letter I wrote to Pat and Stephanie in early 1991, found in Patrick’s files. Pretty boring stuff, but I do mention John’s death and Mary’s suicide.
Continue reading “JP to Patrick and Stephanie (2 Jan 1991)”This letter is happier than its predecessor.
Here’s a letter that my dad John wrote to my dad Patrick, in which he describes his hope that Patrick can regain custody of Jennifer and Gretchen.
Here’s the first of many letters I referenced in the New Year’s Eve 2018 post. I feel badly for my mom. She really, really had it rough her whole life. I believe if you click on the images you will be able to see a larger version of each.
it’s christmas day.
the wind is up a bit,
clouds are preparing a total invasion – it’s been blue skies for weeks.
long live merrie, and happie kubrick
already the days are a few seconds longer than last week;
that always encourages me to get my wind up,
to take a new chomp at the biscuit of significant living.
like a prestidigitator, the mind pops out of the hat
the world as we have known it, large as life,
sitting in the sun on the St Marks square,
scarf flapping in the breeze, smiling or bite your beard.
you in your kitchen in freeport making simple soup
then, whoops
a morning in the blue room in salisbury on the way to tampa,
light playing in branches outside the window,
f with a cup of coffee looking askance at the slightly uneven keyboard of
the piano, and whoosh
my brother in dark glasses in the airport bar, plotting murder,
mari leaning against marble fluted columns at the temple of aphrodite
somewhere in turkey,
her white skirt blowing (does that photo still exist, you wonder),
but this vision is run over by a red mercury convertible on a dusty road,
or left in a minimized window
when fred clutches his right(?) hand under his armpit as the swelling begins
and we all jump
into her car and puncture in our haste the oil pan,
and so on and on,
a veritable pride of kodaks in this and that apartment or field or why not,
the smell of a street in athens, where the roasting meat makes memory
salivate for more?
the wind howling in kushadasi…
marvel at the gigabytes we have in common memory…
and yet we are all puzzles to one another,
most of the pieces scattered in the many years of silence and no contact
soon our satellite will leave the influence of the sun – think of it!
it seems whatever we find, we have space for it under our skulls
where did i see this: like a sponge too drenched, the mind when saturated
with grief spills and thus we created tears
also: when soaked with such splendid shared time, we overflow into smiles
and lungs swollen with exhilaration as if we could breathe life into each
other and the universe itself, merely by saying robert, fred, italy, greece,
doug, leftittown (to prequote robbie), tree, rose, red clay, green fields,
mother earth
as 9-year-old yoji in soller said if god is everywhere you and i are god
Lots of love from
P&S
together with you on this celestial RR (pace e.m. forster)
From Patrick on 25 Dec Y2K
Hope you all had a happy Christmas.
I sent this to a couple of friends who are older than I am, Fred Young (in North Carolina), and Robert Dreicer, now in Florence, Italy. We all met when I was teaching on Long Island, and they met all of you, and Donna, so I thought, you might want it, since it is in a way, part of your history, too.
Now we are all so much older, and hopefully some of the sorrows of then have been healed. Some, I say, because never can all be cleansed. Each of us has deeds to regret, and mine are awful and inexcusable…
Still, much love to you all, and may you prosper in this new millennium.
Your father,
Pat
And from 29 Dec Y2K
Yes of course [you may post it]
It was composed on the spot
and sent without further thought- –
which one day I might regret:
but not yet.
Have a good blowout
but not on your Widget!
Love
P