December 30, 1996, Nairobi, Kenya
Dear Mom and Dad,
I’m here! Tired as all get-out because we stayed up most of the night talking, and the jet lag is starting to catch me. The place looks amazing—the new school and workshop look even better than we imagined it, and John has added about 300 head of cattle to the program, so the new barns are full already. I can’t wait to get started, which is a good thing because John says he can’t take a break for a minute now that calving season is going full tilt. He says I got here just in time.
Sally Beth loves the books on tapes you sent. She had finished with all the Dickens you sent for Christmas and was hoping for more. War and Peace will be first—she said she’s always wanted to read it. She is as pretty and sweet as ever, and still wearing the craziest hats! They’ve gotten a lot glitzier now that the fashion design operation is going. There are about thirty women working full time, and they pretty much consider themselves rich. It’s amazing to see how much she has changed the lives of the poorest people here. One girl about my age has only been here for about six months, and she has real talent. Sally Beth says she’s going to take her to New York in the spring to talk to some retailers about her designs.
All the girls are a big help at the workshop so that Sally Beth can spend most of her time on the anti-FGM campaign. Annilee is a good manager, even though she’s only fourteen. She looks so much like Sally Beth it’s kind of hard to tell them apart. And both James and Carl look more like John every day. They’re both going to help with the calving this year. It’s nice to see them so grown up, but they’re still so much fun.
Since Sally Beth has cranked up the anti-FGM thing, Prissy has quit her job at the hospital to come help her. They had a run-in with some village elders who tried to get them to keep out of it, and John said it was like World War III starting. Prissy told them that every time she operates on a girl who’s been cut, she wants to take her scalpel to every village elder who encourages it and do a number on them. Whew! I think those guys had better stay away from her. She is tough when she gets mad. So is Sally Beth, although she hides it better.
Alethia and some of her other “girls” came for Christmas, and their husbands, too. Alethia’s husband is a lot like her—very energetic and kind. They left to go back home today, so it was good to visit with them last night. By the way, did you know that Becky has been offered a professorship at Cornell? All of these ladies are amazing. They make me feel like a lazy bum for wanting to take a year off. But if I’m going to be a vet, I might as well take the opportunity to learn from the best.
I miss you guys already, and I can’t wait until March when you get here—nearly three months. John and Sally Beth are planning a safari down in Tanzania when you get here, and I can fly you down.
Lilly called last night. She’s covering the genocide in Rwanda—she says it’s really bad and she can’t wait to get away, so she’s going to go meet Howard in Paris while he’s there next week working on some big international deal. She’s hoping they’ll go to Tanzania after that to go trekking on Kilimanjaro, and if his schedule works out, they’ll drop in here for a few days to see me. It will be great. It’s been two years since I last saw them.
And speaking of Rwanda, Sally Beth and John probably are getting another child from the orphanage there. This will make a total of nine. Sally Beth is all excited, of course. He’s three, and she says three-year-olds are the best, except when she’s saying babies are the best, or ten-year—olds are the best, or… ha ha! John just says he’s glad it’s a boy this time because he needs some help in the fields. He made the mistake of saying it out loud so the girls all jumped on him and tried to tickle him to death. They all are so cute, and John is such a good dad. It goes without saying that Sally Beth is a good mom. They’re almost as good as you two.
Anyway, that’s a lot of news considering I’ve been here less than twenty-four hours. You won’t be hearing from me much for a while since I’ll be out riding the range with 400 head of cattle. Yippie! My love to all of you, and of course to Jimmy Lee, Edna Mae, Aunt Rachel and Uncle Wayne and the cousins and give big kisses to my baby sisters (only don’t tell them I called them babies), and tell them I miss them and can’t wait until Spring Break so they will be here for the big safari. I love you. Write!
Your son,
Blue