Dear M + P,Well we finally have some news. After a number of false alarms, it seems I'm really pregnant - at least the frog test was positive. The obstetrician P.C. has sent us to says it will be due, of all times, around Xmas! I'm not quite sure I believe him yet, but time will tell.
He's a very nice doctor, I approve of him because he always tells you what he's thinking, rather than considering all the factors in silence + then delivering a verdict. He gave me some advice which I don't think I'll take, however - it sounds quite Filippino: don't exercise much, absolutely no sports, not even swimming! Having been throught Janie's practical course in having babies twice, I don't agree with this theory at all - I just nodded when he suggested it, and now I just try to make sure not to go without exercise!
Chuck is very excited. He has a twinkle in his eye. I guess I am too. Nine months seems like an awfully long time to wait.
I just noticed that we haven't yet mailed the last letter - there's no news since then about grad schools or PC training.
We got a letter from Ann - it was very articulate and mature-sounding, mostly about Peter's hospital letter. I guessed she expected me to be more surprised by it than I was. Peter - I think the decision about "when to get off" is by all meansabsolutely yours and no one else's, though it may be hard for the rest of us to face that fact. It is, however, an irreversible decision when decided in the "off" direction, but reversible when decided in the "on" one. It is a decision based on alternatives which one doesn't know very much about. I'm not so much worrried about the alternative of death - I don't think there's anything to know about that. But one really doesn't know enough about what what lies n the future of one's life to make a very reasonable decison either way. Whichever way you decide, the decision is based on very scanty knowledge.
So, while you have the right to make the decision (certainly no one else does), no one has the ability to make such a decision responsibly.
This is a circular argument - it seems to always come out that one should decide to live - and when the chance comes to change one's mind, one has to decide to live again, even though it could very well be the less-right decision. Well, I see this rambling is not leading to any answers. At any rate, you can't have grandchildren without being a grandfather! If that's any consolation??
The weather is still very hot. We have had three baths today (Sunday) + we're about ready for another. We had salad for lunch + we'll have Jello for supper - the thought of rice is hardly bearable. In between meals we drink ice tea, ice coffee + ice water. Thank God for the refrigerator! It is thundering distantly - perhaps the rainy season will be coming soon now.
LJ