FAMILY DRAMA: SEX, DRUGS, HEALTHCARE NIGHTMARE: c. 1990 CALIFORNIA HANDWRITTEN LETTERS

Item #1153

Yellow folder holding three different sets of family letters/notes from the late 1980s and early 1990s. The family was from around Concord, California. The breakdown:

Fourteen, mostly handwritten letters from a young woman named Shanda to Erik, some written while she is in school. The girl who seems to be around 17, is in love with Erik, but talks of ex lovers openly, sharing drugs that Erik supplied to her and her parents, being in a foster home for several months and having a baby at 16. She talks of running away with him, and you can feel how messed up she is. A few examples of her writing are at the end.

There are just under 50 handwritten pages along with some print outs from some early online message boards by Errol (Erik’s father, last name seen in a scan), which mostly deal with his father who is in the hospital and appears to be very ill. He talks of dealing with his stepmother and his fear that she is trying to steal the family home, fights with the insurance company, his father having delusional thoughts, etc. These notes are heartbreaking and you can sense the love he has for his dad and his guilt for all the things he perceives that he has done wrong in his life. A few examples below.

There are also six handwritten letters in envelopes from 1993-1995 addressed to Frank (Errol’s father, name seen in scan) at a nursing home called Concord Royale in Concord, CA. They appear to be from a long time friend or ex girlfriend and there is talk of knowing each other for nearly 50 years. The letters are all addressed to “Blue Eyes” and are signed PVDLC.

From Shanda:

Remember when I told you that Max was using me for sex? Well I know I was right, because when I was going out with Greg, Max came and picked me up . She went riding around. I was drunk, but I went to bed with him. I did the same thing with Jimmy. I went to bed with Max when I was going out with Jim and Greg, so now he thinks that I’m such a slut and that I’ll fuck him when ever he wants, but I’m not that way anymore……When we got put in the foster home for 6 months, she became my mom and now she still thinks she’s my mom. She tries to tell me who I can or can’t go with. She try to tell me what drug I can or can’t do and it really pisses me off…….My family back in Oklahoma said that I would have a baby by the age of 16. Well they were right. God I hate it so much, I can never get away from it…….My dad was in a good mood this morning. He stayed up all last night. I think he really likes that stuff. Mom thought it was ok, but I think she really liked it too, because she asked me if I had any more this morning……

From Errol:

So I counted and lifted and he stood, and now he was even more frail and weak than just a little while ago, and I saw that the bed and PJ bottoms were soiled and that is the one thing I’m really able to get sick on, but I lasted until he was finished, handed him the tissue to dry his front, obvious to the other……The 4th photo call/battle to get Dr. Hegg (thru her nurse buffer) to ok some anxiety medication. Stayed with dad until 5:30 pm, when his medication arrived (I had told Dr. Hegg I wasn’t leaving until something was done for him and the night terror and hallucinations he was having). I sat most of the time with him laying there with his eyes closed, a very pained expression on is face, but I couldn’t stand it. To just sit crying silently, tears and snot running down my face and see him suffer, so at 2:30, if I remember right, I gave him 5mg Adapin that Dr. Malone has prescribed before and gradually he became peaceful……and I told him I loved him and kissed his cheek, and pressed my cheek to his and told him I was sorry to have been such a failure as a son, and as a father too…….

Price: $150.00