Bratty Teens, Football, Coronavirus and Papa's Death

Dear Noah and Dylan:

You just barely turned thirteen. I've been writing letters to you since the day you were born! And now I'm ready to strangle you little MFs. (KIDDING) Not surprisingly, you both seem to have mastered inappropriate adult language and I suppose I have a small part in that with my sewer mouth, but it's pretty impossible to avoid between the TV shows and your friends. There are certainly worse things you could be doing besides swearing, so I am not complaining. 

Yesterday you came up this way and we went for a walk with your dad and four dogs on the Little River Nature Trail.  The dogs behaved(mostly) but you guys were a tad annoying throwing your football around in the woods and smashing dead branches above our heads with it. So much for a peaceful walk in the woods. But you did like it, noticing different non-edible berries, the swath of dead trees in the swamp and a snake when you weren't mocking each other. And then with Katie barking at every move you made with the dam football, arg! Not easy having a collie and two active thirteen year old nephews, lol! 

You seemed to appreciate some of the graffiti on the paved section of the trail, although I was surprised to see recent Trump support chalked along it. God help us. Dylan noticed someone wrote that they decided not to go to college and instead become a stripper. So he's decided that is his plan now too. Very funny. Well you did take your shoes off on the trail. I guess that's a start? Sigh...look, I started a college fund for you both and you won't get a dime for any stripping or pole dancing lessons, only for college, ok??!!  So suck up those god awful Zoom lessons and do your best possible to prepare yourselves for your academic future despite the circumstances. The pandemic should be much more controlled by next year given the pace scientists are working at to find a vaccine. 

This was a tough week for you having lost your other grandfather. Grandpa Kudym died when you were probably too young to remember him well, but Papa, your mom's stepdad also spent a lot of time with you and loved you very much. The wake was pretty scary from what I heard with your grandmother passing out and giving everyone quite a scare. He will be very missed by your mom for sure. Losing a parent is one of the suckiest things we go through in life. Hopefully it happens when we are much older but life doesn't always work that way. I had my mom until I was 45 and my dad until I was 55 so I consider myself fortunate, but still envious of friends who are my age and still have parents in their 90's!! Anyway, I sent condolences to your mom and she told me how sensitive you both are. Grief is funny because you can feel pretty ok about losing someone and then you have these "grief attacks" where you suddenly are overwhelmed with the realization that you can not ever see the person again and you realize how very much you miss him or her. It can happen in unexpected moments. Just go with the flow, cry if you need to. And now that you are thirteen you can cry in front of us now. You don't have to go downstairs like when you were little and started wailing about some terrible injustice or from hurting yourself while playing. I remember Noah was  so trained when staying here for daycare and would just go downstairs on his own to cry, and then pop back up when he heard the rest of us talking and laughing about something else with a big smile "All done!" 

Good luck with the football games. Your dad sent me the schedule today. We will bundle up and go to see you play. Hopefully, everyone sticks to the social distancing rules as much as possible given the proximity of the players during the game. 

Thank you both for wearing masks on our walk the whole time. I really appreciate that. Uncle Joe was tired from a long drive yesterday to our small T. family gathering in western mass so he decided to pass on our walk. He will join us next time. It's a good way for us to spend time together without having to be inside with virus concerns since I walk in most weather with the dogs. There a lots of interesting places we can explore. I want us to go to Fort Foster in Kittery, Maine next. It's right on the ocean with trails, old buildings, a long pier, a lighthouse, picnic tables and dogs are allowed at least until next year when they took a vote to ban them completely recently. I don't know what the result of the vote was yet. Too bad some folks spoil it for others, not picking up the poop!! They apparently missed my pooper scooper lesson at the Parker River Wildlife Refuge Headquarters. 

Love you, you two early teenagers! And may the teen years be filled with lots of adventures and great memories with family and friends!

Auntie Kim