Correspondence

 

Sun., Feb. 17 at 9:14 a.m.

Peter Streicher <pstreicher@dmail.com>

 

To: Jerry <js2000@ilsu.edu>

 

Hey There!                                                                                                        

 

Hey there, son! Just thought I'd drop a line as we haven't heard a word from you since you were here for Christmas. Your mother's left a you a few VMs since then and she still hasn't heard back from ya.

Hope everything's OK. Please drop us a line or give us a call when you get a chance. Just so we know things are good with you.

Love,

Dad

"Remember how long you have been putting off these things, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods, and yet do not use it." -- Marcus Aurelius -- CARPE DIEM!

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

Sun., Feb. 17 at 9:32 a.m.

Peter Streicher <pstreicher@dmail.com>

 

To: Jerry <js2000@ilsu.edu>

 

Hey There (Again)!                                                                                           

OK, your mom just reminded me that we HAVE heard from you since Christmas. Or at least she has. You called her on her cell the day after New Year's to wish us a happy new year. So...I stand corrected. (You know how much mom likes to correct me.)

Anyway, please reply or give us a call soon. Would love to know how you're doing. 

 

Love,

Dad

"Remember how long you have been putting off these things, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods, and yet do not use it." -- Marcus Aurelius -- CARPE DIEM!

____________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Mon., Feb. 25 at 8:46 p.m.

Peter Streicher <pstreicher@dmail.com>

 

To: Jerry <js2000@ilsu.edu>

 

Long time, no chat                                                                                     

So how's it going? I assume you got my e-mails last week....? Your mom and I both tried calling your cell a few times over the last couple of days and we just keep getting your VM.

 

Can you just let us know that you're OK?

 

Love,

Dad

"Remember how long you have been putting off these things, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods, and yet do not use it." -- Marcus Aurelius -- CARPE DIEM!

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

Sat., March 2 at 11:09 a.m. 

Peter Streicher <pstreicher@dmail.com>

 

To: Jerry <js2000@ilsu.edu>

 

Long time, STILL no chat                                                                               

Hello, son.  Still haven't heard back from you.

Fortunately, I got hold of your buddy Jake yesterday. He said that he had just talked to you a few days ago, and that as far as he was concerned you sounded as though everything's OK. Was glad to hear it.

 

BTW, I had no idea that Jake is going to.....culinary school???? Your buddy Jake???? OUR Jake, that smart-ass kid that always flirted with your mom??? 

 

Not that there's anything wrong with it. I just had absolutely no idea that he had any interest in cooking at all. It was a bit of a surprise. Anyway, he sounded good. It seems he's really taken to it and is having a great time, though he hinted that it could be fairly rough at times. 

 

Hope school is going well with you.

 

Anyway.....PLEASE CALL, TEXT, OR E-MAIL. Me or your mother. We'd like to hear from you directly as to how you're doing, not have to track down your old high school classmates to find out.  

 

Love you always,

Dad

"Remember how long you have been putting off these things, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods, and yet do not use it." -- Marcus Aurelius -- CARPE DIEM!

  

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Mon., March 11 at 1:34 a.m.

Peter Streicher <pstreicher@dmail.com>

 

To: Jerry <js2000@ilsu.edu>

 

We miss you                                                                                                

Hey, Jerry. So you're still not replying to my e-mails or taking my calls, or calling me back. 

You're angry with me. I get it. Your mother and I have hashed and re-hashed our conversation at Christmas a hundred times. (More like a thousand times, it seems.) She says that what I had said to you was very hurtful to you. Well, I understood perfectly well at the time I said what I said that it very well might be. 

But look, my point wasn't to belittle the plans you shared with us for the sake of belittling them. I didn't say what I said to make you feel bad. I said what I said because I care about you. 

Jerry, what you're considering is a very major life-altering decision, one that will determine the entire course of your future. In my (humble) opinion, such a course would bring you an awful lot of unnecessary misery and suffering. 

And please, please, PLEASE....understand that out there in that big, complicated, crazy world, there are all sorts of con artists and fraudsters with their own agendas, who don't give a damn about what's in your best interest--they only want to use you for their own narrow, selfish ends. (Many of these people may not even be aware that they're con artists, as they've managed to so effectively deceive themselves. The human mind can be such an elegant mechanism of self-deception!) This is a fact that you will become more and more aware of as you get older. 

That's not to say that you should be suspicious and mistrustful of everyone you meet. But you have to make sure that you have a finely honed bullshit detector between your ears. You have to be able to distinguish between those who sincerely want to help you succeed in actualizing your authentic self and becoming a better person, and those who just see you as a tool to be used. And that can be tricky sometimes. A lot of the time, those who claim that they just want to help you are the ones who want to use you, and those who appear to just want something from you are the ones who can actually help you--really help you--and may even turn out to be your closest and most trusted friends in the long run. (Confusing, I know! But be wary of those who say they want to help you out without expecting anything at all in return. That is often a ruse.)

 

And Jerry, these people you told us about, who say they just want to help you with whatever problems you have, or believe you have, who are encouraging you in this decision--they sound like hucksters, not friends. It seems to me that they don't really care what happens to you. They just know what they can use you for. 

Anyway, I'm telling you this not because I want to thwart your happiness--quite the opposite. I very much want you to be happy--not such a simple thing to achieve, I might add--because I love you. I'm saying all this because I love you, Jerry. I've loved you since that night I first held you in my arms after your mom endured nearly twenty hours of labor (as she never fails to remind us), and you reared your head back and aimed those big brown saucer eyes at mine. At that moment, not only did I feel an overwhelming sense of love, but it had also fully dawned on me that your mother and I had an awesome responsibility to make sure that you would someday be fully equipped to take care of yourself in this utterly insane, chaotic world. 

And as you have grown up, that has often meant telling you things that you do not want to hear. But I do it anyway, because I love you and I honestly believe that you NEED to hear them, so that you don't someday end up being utterly confused and miserable. Love is not telling someone only what they want to hear, Jerry. You tell the people you love what you really think they should hear, even if you have an awful hunch that they probably don't want to hear it.

 

And maybe--just MAYBE--you might consider that it's remotely possible that I've learned at least a few things in my nearly 60 years of walking this Earth. 

 

Anyway, I think that I've pretty much said all that I have to say about this, and I have nothing more to add. You know my honest opinion, but the decision is still yours to make, of course. You're a young man now. You're about to turn 19. 

 

Maybe the lesson I'm learning right now is that I eventually have to let go and allow you to make your own choices, even if I think they're terrible choices that you'll end up regretting. (But I will still always let you know what I think---because I LOVE YOU.) This is the hardest lesson I've learned in a long, long time. But I remind myself that regrets are, unfortunately, and often painfully, the necessary lessons taught by experience that we all must go through on occasion throughout our lives. I've had my share of such experiences, God knows, and you will, too, no matter what I think or say to you.

 

OK, enough of my rambling. I just hope I've made myself clear. I'll say nothing more about this. (Unless, of course, you ever want to discuss it further.)

But please, PLEASE--call or write us sometime soon, OK? We miss talking to you.

I miss you and love you,

 

Dad

"Remember how long you have been putting off these things, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods, and yet do not use it." -- Marcus Aurelius -- CARPE DIEM! 

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Wed., March 20 at 5:47 p.m.

Peter Streicher <pstreicher@dmail.com>

To: Jerry <js2000@ilsu.edu>

 

Pick-up                                                                                                           

Hey, Jerry. Just wanted to let you know that I may be a little late picking you up at the train station on Friday. I have an afternoon meeting with a client and I have a feeling that it may end up running a little late. (This guy is quite the talker.)

Can't wait to see you! Your mother and I have missed you.

Love, 

Dad

 

"Remember how long you have been putting off these things, and how often you have received an opportunity from the gods, and yet do not use it." -- Marcus Aurelius -- CARPE DIEM! 

 

________________________________________________________________________________