My Dearest Children - April 4, 2020

My dearest children –

I beg you will forgive my description of yourselves as such, for while Providence has not ordained that we should be of the same flesh and blood, yet do I believe that no natural father has felt more love, pride and joy in his children than I hold for you, my dearest ones.

Each day I feel new astonishment at the pinnacles you’ve climbed, both of achievement and character. Your Saintly Mother has kept me closely apprised minute by minute of all developments in your lives, and has read aloud each of your loving communications with each other. Their good humor has caused many a shared chuckle and, all too often, an unseemly guffaw, for which I am loathe to make penance.

I have warmed to the news from both of you of your interest and warm attention to the various wildlife in your neighborhood here I insert a small drawing to show that I have remembered some of the creatures you have mentioned, although I was loathe to draw a squirrel without a tail. 🐸🐿🐦

On the farm, here in Vermont the big barn, next to the Farmhouse, having been vacated by the last of the feral cats, is now inhabited by a family of voracious woodchucks, two rambunctious raccoons who have found a home in the pile of wooly insulating material on the second floor, and an enormous porcupine with such a placid and benign expression on his face that I find it impossible to bear him ill will, in spite of the fact that he has a fondness for wood that may cause him to consume portions of the barn itself. He has already shown a disturbing appreciation for the hemlock trees I have planted and tended around the building. I have named him Wendell, after my favorite writer, Wendell Berry.

I take myself off, more or less daily to the Yule Tree Plantation, (and here I insert a small illustration so you may be reminded of what I speak)🌲armed only with my trusty pruning saw, to restore order to the uncontrolled growth that it has become. As I saw away patiently at the thicket, above me the dark green tree tops drip down a cascade of water, snow, ice and pine needles. I am blessed with useful labor that is safe and fruitful to pursue, and a beautiful forested space in which to do it.

And now, my dear ones, it is time for me to take myself again to the YTP (once again, your reminder)🌲for more good labor, but be certain that now, as always, you remain deep in my heart. I close with a slightly edited version of the last two lines of another Robert Frost poem; “We work together, I said with all my heart, whether we work together or apart.”

Loving greetings to your dear spouses and children.

With deepest affection,
your auxiliary dad, Steve.

_____________________________________
Lon Gowan is an actor/stuntman/writer and the most excellent brother a sister could ever want. His "My Dearest Sister" letters may be the best thing to happen to me during the COVID-19 Quarantines. 

Julie Dolan is an actress, musician and favorite Irish wife/Las Vegas Showgirl. We were thrilled the day she married my brother.

Susan Terry is a mediator, consultant, musician, and storyteller as well being our Esteemed Mother. She and her Yankee Husband and Gentleman Farmer, Stephen Parker live in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont at High Reach Farm

Bill Quern is my Beloved Husband and we're known collectively as Box and String.

#COVID19  #LonGowan  #MyDearestSister #Julie Dolan #Coronacation