Dear Alex,

In the context of the establishment of a temporary Avignon in Sharon, -
the original Avignon also proved to be temporary, - I reflect on my 
relationship to Margaret in the light of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet
where love was destroyed by family conflict. Jochen and Margaret are
much more fortunate, since such conflict as might have been was 
successfully suppressed until after Margaret's death, which has made
their love invulnerable. The feud between the Montagues and Capulets
had its roots in the distant past. Between our families, yours and
mine, there is no of course no feud at all, but only a difference of 
systemic experience, a difference in expectations for which we might 
appropriate the nebulous term "life-style". I know nothing about such 
explicit or implicit life-style as the Randolph-Grace family might 
have had; all that I know is that on Lakeview Avenue in 1949-1950, 
I encountered a life-style that was alien and threatening to me, 
a life-style difference which engendered mutual dislike between 
Priscilla and myself and made life difficult for both of us. 
Margaret was caught in the middle. She loved me, but her loyalty 
to Priscilla was so unshakable that she would not adjudicate in my favor.
As long as I lived on Lakeview Avenue, I felt threatened by Margaret's 
ambivalence. When I finally moved away from Lakeview Avenue in the early 
summer of 1950, both Margaret and I forgot Aunt Priscilla and the four 
little Graces and we "lived happily ever after."

These memories of the past make the prospective Memorial "Service" 
in Sharon as a bastion of your family, a latter day Lakeview Avenue, 
all the more meaningful to me. As you know, the Greek word for truth 
is alethia - the absence of Lethe, of forgetfulness, in other words 
"remembrance of things past." I have a particular need for this memory 
so that I can assess - and therefore begin to atone for the injustice 
which I have done to Margaret and her family. I'm confident that the 
need for such atonement is one thing upon which you and I can agree.

With much respect and love, Jochen