Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last set of emails. I really appreciate your feedback.
Day 389: I think my father-in-law needs more friends
From: Vulcan_Embassy_Ambassador_ Sarek
To: Spock's_cuddlebunny
Time arrived: 03/12/2261 00:00:01
Subject: Congratulations on the birth of your new godchildren
I received a message from Spock regarding the safe delivery of Jamie Lilaik Pike and Kenji Niath Pike. I am honored that Adm. Pike also gave her children Vulcan names. I know she spent many years on the Vulcan of old as a child. It shows that she still has great reverence for our people.
I believe Amanda was acquainted with her parents. Very few humans lived in our city, and they all tended to gather and exchange tips for surviving the harsh climate. There are more humans in the new colony than in the Vulcan of old.
I have sent a baby present to your mother's residence. I could not ship to the Admiral directly because I do not have her address. I am sure your mother will pass the gift to her. I am emailing her separately.
I have heard from my daughter and son that there will be no need to relocate to New Vulcan due to the Enterprise Minors programs surviving another year. Congratulations on creating such a successful program. Gina is an excellent instructor. I've heard great things about her teaching techniques from my VSA colleagues who visited her classes. I also heard many fascinating things from the children. Saavik found her time with the students to be a very enriching experience. The children adore her, and I'm very grateful I could play a small part in officiating her bonding ceremony.
Saavik has mixed emotions regarding the program's continuation. She was looking forward to getting to live with her cousins. Being raised as an only child is a lonely experience and she is now only beginning to make local friends since starting at the new school.
However, she knew many of her new friends from Enterprise would not be as fortunate as Peter and Josephine. They have a grandfather and aunt who would be grateful to care for them. I'm aware that most of the other Enterprise children have less favorable circumstances. For their sake, the program needed to continue.
I was looking forward to spending more time with my son and grandchildren and regret that it will not happen now. I also regret all the years that Spock and I had minimal communication. I do not want to repeat that. I'm grateful that Spock will not need to leave Starfleet behind to take care of his family. I know how much my son loves his work and its importance. I do not wish for him to be forced to abandon that.
I made many mistakes raising Spock and his brother. It is always challenging to balance one's family life and career. I never achieved such a balance. At least not when raising my other children. I am hopeful that I will be better with my third child. My Amanda always said the third time is the charm. She was wiser than I was.
Although I do not have her guidance this time, I do have the guidance of you and my son, and I do appreciate that. The fact that both of you were willing to leave Starfleet for Peter's sake shows me that you understand proper balance in a way I never did. Your guidance will, therefore, be more than adequate.
I am hosting my first sleepover involving non relative children soon. What type of food does one serve at a sleepover? What kind of activities should I plan? Do I plan activities? What guidance do you have for me?
Thankfully, I get along with most of the parents/guardians of Saavik's friends. They have all enjoyed my lemon bars at the PTA meetings, although I've been asked to venture out into other baked goods. Not brownies, due to cocoa powder being a controlled substance, but possibly Blondies with caramel chips.
Do you have any other suggestions for recipes? I'm attempting to improve my culinary skills. I do not want us to be entirely replicator-dependent. I know some classic Vulcan dishes that I learned as a child. However, those are not well-suited for sleepovers or mingling with the other parents. I am trying to expand Saavik's culinary horizons. If I do choose to return to being an active diplomat, it would be helpful for Saavik to prepare for the food in advance.
Yes, I did send a letter to your brother about his experiences as an adopted child. Kevin returned a six-page reply with various tips to help me and Saavik prepare for the upcoming adoption. I hope everything is finalized before we depart for the new embassy. My legal team is hopeful.
Your brother suggested that I speak with his fiancé, Elizabeth Chen, which I will do. He also suggested that Saavik email both of them directly. She found them fascinating during their summer visit and is already corresponding with Elizabeth.
It is unfortunate that I will not get to spend much time with you or my son. It is disappointing that both of you will be forced to attend the Federation General Assembly. Mainly because this is one of the few years I have not participated in the conference. It is always a tedious event despite the opportunity to network with other diplomats.
I should warn you that the Vulcan representative at the Federation General Assembly is my former assistant. He was fired because of his inappropriate treatment of Amanda. Unfortunately, due to the genocide, our numbers are depleted, and we are forced to make diplomats of Vulcans who care little for diplomacy and the true spirit of the Vulcan people. He will be attending the Federation General Assembly. Hopefully, you will have to spend little time with him.
Please send more pictures of my grandchildren and of your godchildren.
Xxxx
T'hy'la: I got another letter from your dad. He wants sleepover snack ideas and more baby pictures. You think a man that has a wedding replicator packet would have a sleepover replicator packet.
T'hy'la: He also needs baked good recipes to make the other parents like him. He's going to need all the help he can get. I think my mom was right about your dad being lonely. He's trying really hard to make more friends with the other parents.
Spock: I assume he wants to be less replicator dependent. I will send him our sleepover snack recipes after I remove everything containing chocolate. As well as several vegan baking guides.
T'hy'la: And I will forward the baby pictures.
Spock: Did my father say anything else important?
T'hy'la: He congratulated us on the new godbabies. You mentioned it in your last video call a couple of days ago. He will be sending baby gifts to Mom's address. Your father also was kind enough to warn us that the rep from Vulcan is going to be a dick. Apparently, there is a family history. He was mean to your mom.
Spock: That would be Ambassador Vok. His younger brother was also a former classmate who made inappropriate comments about my mother.
T'hy'la: Is this the kid you broke the nose of?
Spock: I broke more than one nose during my adolescence.
T'hy'la: This should not surprise me. I'm absolutely going to end up calling this guy Ambassador Cock at least once.
T'hy'la: I am 99% sure we must ferry the guy to and from the assembly. The universe hates us sometimes.
Spock: That will most likely be the case. However, we will not receive that list until May.
T'hy'la: Oh, that's so unfair.
Spock: Very few things are fair.
T'hy'la: Such as the fact that you're not having breakfast with me right now.
Spock: I'm getting ready to have a video conference with our Admiral in 7.5 minutes. I consumed breakfast before departure.
T'hy'la: I am a little concerned that I am not with you. Those are never good meetings. You should've mentioned something last night. I thought you woke up early just for meditation.
Spock: I apologize for not verbally confirming my whereabouts. I did note it on our shared schedule.
T'hy'la: I haven't been looking as much because we now have Andrea to tell us when we're late.
Spock: I opted to take this alone so that you could ensure that Peter arrives to his classes on time.
T'hy'la: Which may only happen if I find his shoes. Andrea just showed up to drag me to the bridge. I get to sit in the big chair until you're done with your meeting, and I'm not passing that up.
Spock: Look under his homework desk.
T'hy'la: Found them.
T'hy'la: OK, I found one of the shoes.
Spock: Try the shared bathroom.
T'hy'la: OK, I found the other shoe under the sink. No, I don't know how that happened.
T'hy'la: Which means that I have time to feed the kid at least some toast.
T'hy'la: That he's going to have to eat on his own because I have to get to the bridge. See you soon, sweetie.
Xxxxx
From: Spock' s_cuddlebunny
To: Vulcan_Embassy_Ambassador_ Sarek
Time arrived: 03/12/2261 00:00:01
Subject: More pictures of the grandkids attached
It's good to hear from you. I am sure Nhi is going to love with you sent. We sent a cookie basket and a balloon basket. That's in addition to all the baby clothes that we sent earlier. I do enjoy shopping for my godchildren. All the baby stuff we saw on New Vulcan was adorable, and we had to get her at least two of everything.
Spock suggested the middle names for both babies. I was responsible for the first names. I'm sure all of Spock's suggestions were on the list for our future children. This will not happen until retirement because balancing Peter and our jobs is hard enough.
I was late for the bridge this morning because I couldn't find his shoes. Spock also had to do a meeting solo with our Adm. She was upset I wasn't there. She thinks 12 is old enough to get to class on your own. Which is usually the case, but again, missing shoes. Also, I think Spock Bear wanted to talk to the boss alone. He was trying to get us out of the Federation General Assembly. No such luck. Also, I feel we will end up ferrying your ex-assistant. It feels like something the universe would do to us.
I'm glad you're talking to Kevin. He needs other adults to talk to. I think he's slowly going crazy on Discovery. At a minimum, he is counting down the days until his internship ends, and he can be back with his girlfriend. I talked to her a few days ago, and I know this separation is taking a lot out of both of them.
Kevin's suggestion to talk to Liz is a good one. They had very different adoptions. Mom tried her best, but she didn't get the alcoholism under control until recently. There were periods of sobriety, but none of them lasted longer than six months until the latest round. This is the longest she's ever been sober in my lifetime, and I hope she keeps up with it. I think having Peter helps to keep her from going back to the bottle. She knows I will limit their contact if she relapses. Now Wynonna has her pseudo-grandkids from Adm. Pike to help keep her sober as well. I'm sure you're going to get lots of pictures from her. I know she is writing to you as well.
I'm not sorry that the program was renewed because the other parents on Enterprise really needed this program. None of the others besides Ny and Bones had good options to leave their children with. At a minimum we have each other. Nyota also has her mom and Josephines's Aunt Lena. As long as the woman's father is in jail, she is an option.
There's a chance that man may have had his own daughter killed. It's still being investigated, but it doesn't look good. Josephine found out about it due to teenagers being teenagers. That was not a good day for any of us. She cried on Peter. It's been rough.
Although the downside of the program surviving another year is that Peter won't get to live with his cousin and your son will also stay several light years away. I know you two talk more now than before. Which is good. But we worry about you. Raising a traumatized preteen is not easy on anybody, and you're doing it as a single parent. At least Spock and I are in this together.
You're trying your best to balance everything. Now that he is a parent figure, Spock understands more about why you made the choices you did. You were trying your best. Now you know what not to do this third time around. You have the advantage of raising children one generation at a time. That means you have more time to fix things when you screw up.
Actually, we will too. Peter might be in grad school before we have more kids. He can give us an itemized list of all the ways we screwed up, and then we hope to do better with his cousin/little siblings.
I'm so glad my baby sister-in-law has friends and is having a sleepover. Congratulations on your willingness to host another one that doesn't involve family this time. Spock is sending you his guide to sleepovers. As soon as he gets rid of all the references to chocolate. Chocolate is a crucial part of the human bonding experience.
However, chocolate for you is like cannabis for us. This is probably something not sleepover-appropriate but OK for PTA meetings with non-Vulcans. Is the sister-in-law the only individual of Vulcan ancestry in her new friend group?
Also, I feel like if you have a replicator that makes wedding decorations, it probably has things for a sleepover. You should look into that. I know you don't want to use it for food but sleepover games is an option.
Anyway, pictures from our time at the Starbase are attached. I forwarded the latest batch of twin pictures a few days ago. The kids absolutely adored the waterpark, and we have to take you and the sister-in-law at some point. Spock says that you swim, but what about Saavik? We could do a virtual waterpark. I know Yorktown won't have the real thing. If you do go back to the diplomatic service, you'll be able to take your kid to a waterpark. That might be another reason to go back.
To be continued…