Dear William

Dear William,
Everything is fine here. The weather is brisk and clear, the temps are bracing, the leaves are slowly turning from lackluster summer greens to lusty reds, oranges and yellows. It’s fall in New England, the best time of year, my favorite season. It’s worth suffering through the mud of spring and the mosquitoes and black flies of summer to be able to immerse oneself in the glories of Maine in autumn. I remember I always loved New York in autumn, too. That sweltering heat of late summer changes abruptly to the stimulating crisp air of October and the fist-in-the-face fridge of November. Won’t be long though before the winter winds come roaring down the canyons of the avenues, making you tighten your collar and don an extra shirt beneath your Bobby Zimmerman leather jacket (if you’re lucky enough have one). Winter can be tough in the city, but there are always warm and friendly places to duck into for a cup of joe or a bowl of soup. Ah, the Big Apple. I do miss it sometimes. I’m sure you are doing your best to make the most of your experience there. I hope also that you are finding school to be stimulating and challenging. Sometime, if you get a chance, write me a paragraph describing your best class or a memorable moment.

As you know, we are heading for B.C. Canada early Wednesday morning, winging our way west on a wing and a prayer. I am sorry to learn that I will miss your first return from college and from the city. One’s first return after getting through the early months of college is always the best of all returns home, for it is then that you reunite with your old chums over a Bud and a Lucky and compare notes on the experience. Though you’ve been gone but a month and a half, it seems like much longer, and you’ll all have so many tales to tell—it’s as if you’ve been apart for years!

So have a great time at home and, of course, be careful. Like I said, I am sorry to be missing you, but hopefully I can get down to see you at school before Thanksgiving. Take care.
Love,
Dad