Dad,

As may know, I am taking a road trip this weekend with my cousin to pick up a dishwasher from his sister, who lives in Maryville, Missouri. In other words, I will be in your neck of the woods. I was invited because my cousin thought that it was critical that we go and visit your dad, our grandfather. I am just along for the ride, so I don’t get to speak much to the itinerary, but if we can we will stop by on Saturday. I am looking forward to spending some time in conversation with the cousin that I was closest to growing up, and haven’t seen much of for the last 10 or 12 years. We now both have children and live in the same area, so I am hoping that our talk is not all reminiscing.

He and I made a time capsule thing one time, in the house where my grandparents used to live. We wrote some stuff on a piece of paper and put it behind a loose rock in the basement. The funny part is that the rock wasn’t all that loose, I guess. We just found loose mortar and dug out the brick with sticks. We weren’t very concerned about preservation, either, because we didn’t put the paper in plastic or anything, and one of my uncles informed us that the paper was all but gone. But I remember it, and that counts for something.

I hope to see you this weekend.

Bryan.