Duly Noted

It's the end of January, 1990, and I'm overdue sending a letter to Lady Darley. Or perhaps I already have, and the notes have crossed in the mail. Either way, she's still writing to me.

Dear Chris,

I just thought I'd write you a little letter to see how you were. I haven't heard from you for such a long time so I wondered if everything was o.k. I was looking through [your Raytown friend's] letter and she appeared to think that you haven't or didn't have many friends when you lived in Raytown?

Did you receive my Christmas present of chocolates? I didn't know what you would like for Christmas so I decided they were nice enough. Did you receive my Christmas card as well? I wasn't sure if you had because, well this sounds really odd, I thought you would have sent me one back. I'm not that bothered because I love to give rather than to receive.

I didn't send Christmas cards to anybody that year. I wasn't in that mode yet. I didn't get into it until well into my 30's, when I sent quite a few to families I met through We Make History and everybody I thought played a role in my epiphany year of 2006. I kept it going for a couple of years, and then I decided just to end it. That sounds horrible, I know. But I figured I would pray for them instead.

I had my hair cut up to my shoulders yesterday. It's o.k. but I don't think it makes me look any better. It was just that my hair was in really bad condition.

You want bad? Try living with naturally curly hair and being mistaken for a girl.

I'm setting up my plans for my visit to America in July. It does give me problems such as a lot of money, whether I get on with [your Raytown friend] or not. That really is my main problem, about my worries about whether I will get on with her and her friends. I find it very worrying as I would like to be friends with her.

Write Soon,
Lots of Love,
[Lady Darley]