Dear Family, Riding my bike to work in the rain multiple times this week brought to mind a cherished childhood memory that I sometimes wonder whether my mother remembers the same way I do. The distance from my childhood home in Moorestown, New Jersey, to the middle and high school I attended (the two schools’…
On marital smugness, Hawaiian vocabulary, and a panic attack at 8,000 feet (vol. xxviii, no. 8)
Note: For the latest from Sophie (including her rhapsodic musings about Riga, her harrowing journey from Latvia to Utah to Alaska and then back to Utah, and her always-exciting adventures working at the BYU Bindery, read here. For an account of Ari’s summer as a counselor at Science Camp and Adventure Camp and dealing with…
Sophie’s August: When She Flew, and Flew Some More
Dear Family, It’s finally the end of the summer, and I think this has probably been the most exciting summer of my entire life. There’s probably no need to read another letter after this one, honestly. But I’d appreciate it if you did anyway. The month started off in Latvia, where I completed the last…
Ari’s EPISTOLARIUS: Summer Camp Edition — July-August 2024
Note: This letter was written over the course of two weeks, so it’s a hot mess. Forgive me. Dear Family, Since the composition and posting on my last letter, July was lovely. The first five days of August, however, have been TERRIBLE. I am sick. Well, I’ve actually been sick for exactly fourteen days now,…
On the blessings of family and … I forget what else (vol. xxviii, no. 7)
Dear Family, One of the downsides of writing a letter at the end of every month is that important events at the beginning of the month tend to get short shrift, if not forgotten entirely. This is definitely shaping up to be one of those months, especially since almost all of this letter is being…
Sophie’s July: In Which She Eats a Lot of Borsch
Dear Family, I am pleased to present to you: an entire month in the Baltic states! Now four weeks into my study abroad program in Riga, Latvia, I feel a lot more confident speaking Russian, navigating the city, and eating tomatoes. For those who didn’t know little Sophie, that last one might not sound very…
Ari’s EPISTOLARIUS: Pride Edition (feat. the allegory of the queer fish) — May-June 2024
Dear Family, I need you all to know that I am queer as heck. That’s how I’d planned to start this letter, when I began work on it near the end of May. It was important, but it didn’t end up flowing well in the context of the rest of the letter. So I’ll write…
Sophie’s June: When She Became a Fiancée
Dear Family, This has truly been one of the most exciting months of my life. If you’re friends with me on Facebook, then you probably already know the most exciting part, but I’ll get to that later to keep myself from getting turned around. The first two weeks were just work until the last day…
On geography lessons, engagement, the kindness of strangers, and why music makes me cry (vol. xxviii, no. 6)
Dear Family, Sophie is back in the former Soviet Union. Two and a half years after having her time in Eastern Ukraine cut short by the Russian invasion, she got herself into a BYU study abroad program to Latvia for the summer. For reasons you might have to be a former missionary to fully understand,…
Sophie’s May: When She Became a (Substitute) Teacher
Dear Family, About half of this letter was written on May 30th. I hope you will forgive the fact that it is written in two parts, the first speaking as though it is still May, the other written the first few days of June. So as you begin to read the letter, do not fret;…