From: Emma Devlin
Subject: Summer break
Date: June 12, 2018 9:16 a.m.
To: Brandon Devlin
(CLT): 48.15 sec
My Dearest Husband (I really love the sound of that),
Well, the summer break is finally upon us. School hasn’t been out for very long and I already miss those kids. I always feel like I did the first time I put Rich on the school bus, remembering how lost I was all day long without him. I have to tell you about the end of the school year. We had a parent visitation and student project day. My students displayed their Martian calendars. You should have seen the parent responses to the finished product. What great imaginations the children have. The calendars are hard to describe because of the variety of concepts and use of materials. I took snapshots and have enclosed them for you. If you can, add them to your video wall’s photo gallery, kind of like we used to place Rich’s drawings on the fridge.
To take my mind off how much I miss you, I’ve been trying to keep busy by cleaning and have now started to tackle the attic. What a job! Dirt, cobwebs, and spiders all over everything. I was amazed at all the junk we have collected and all the things I haven’t seen in years. How, why, and where did we ever get three fondue pots? Maybe they were wedding presents that we stuffed away (you never did like fondue). I kept out some items that I wanted you to take a look at before getting rid of them. There’s room in the garage to store them until you get back.
I have been hitting a few yard sales, but the estate sales are even better. You and I have always found treasures at these on our weekend forays. I’m having fun and have picked up a few collectables. I even found some Star Trek Christmas ornaments – your other passion (besides me and your ship). I laugh and compare the different commanders, engineers, and crew of the series. Perhaps your voyage will get into the series. Having gone where no one has gone before… kind of catchy, don’t you think? You’d make a cute ornament, too. I could put you in the curio cabinets with the other men of space. Ha, ha. Perhaps I’ll write to Hallmark and make that suggestion. If they started with Alan Shepard, can you imagine the series they could build?