Dear Family,

I am retooling and moving some things around.

For this month’s letter, please go to famlet.famlet.org

For recent past letters (on the off chance you care) please visit http://famlet.famlet.org/past-letters.html

For old letters (in the very, very unlikely chance you care) please visit www.famlet.org/oldies

 
Text Box: ABOUT THE FAMLET “Famlet” is a portmanteau, short for “family letter.” It traces back more than a quarter-century to my childhood and to my paternal grandmother, who, in exchange for paying for half of our piano lessons (and later for significant portions of our college education and Mormon missions and probably other things I was never made aware of) asked that each of her grandchildren write her a monthly letter so she’d know what we were up to. In retrospect, it wasn’t an unreasonable request, but it seemed like one when I was a kid, and, I imagine like most of my cousins, I complied with it only sporadically (i.e., when my parents gave me grief about it, which wasn’t that often). In 1998, however, four years into my own marriage and two years after becoming a father, I had an epiphany of sorts and finally started writing my grandmother the monthly letters she’d asked for all my life. I mailed (remember mail?) copies of the letters to my parents and maternal grandparents as well. My mother suggested that other family members might be interested too, so I started an E-mail distro list that quickly grew to several dozen relatives, some of whom I’ve never actually met, and most of whom have probably never read it. The letters have become less informative and more sarcastic since my grandmother’s passing in late 2001, but for some reason I keep writing them. I don’t recall exactly when I started branding the monthly letter “Famlet,” an homage to a similarly titled Shakespearean play whose famous lines include “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” The title is a subtle way of conveying that in a household with four young girls, there’s bound to be something amiss (and it’s often stinky). My grandparents have all moved on to the Spirit World. The letters now go to my children’s grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, and now to anyone else who stumbles upon this Website. I hope you enjoy getting to know my nuclear family a little better.

Some old photos

Some letters of historical significance (to me)

Grace’s autograph quest 2015

Orlando 2015

epcot hat quest 2015

The Allegedly Funny “Golf Cart Story”

Summer Tour 2010

Enter Grace

nYC 2010

Hannah’s Baptism

Snow-mageddon

St. Lucia (2004)

Orlando 2009

DC Snipers (2002)

Lucy:

St. Mary’s

Oglebay I

Coeur d’Alene

Enter Sophie

Brighton Dam

Exit Jean Cannon Willis

Outdoor Ed

Where were you on 9/11?

Cherry Blossoms 08

Exit Afton Ashworth Henrichsen

Great Falls

Enter Lucy

The Patriarch

Exit Ernest Bertoch Henrichsen

Lucy’s Baptism