Artifact #5: Letter from the Kibbutz

Letter from the Kibbutz: An Artifact from Mickey Dubrow
I wouldn’t go so far as saying I was Jeff’s sidekick. A more accurate description would be to say that I was the Mr. Spock to his Captain Kirk. The Trapper John to his Hawkeye. The Lacey to his Cagney. He was the instigator. I was the willing partner in crime.



We first became friends in kindergarten. We lived in the same neighborhood. Over the years, he would drift away from time to time because he decided that I wasn’t cool enough to hang with him. But then, we’d run into each other at the mall or at a neighbor’s house and the friendship would pick up again as if we hadn’t missed a day.

When we were in our late teens, Jeff spent a year on a kibbutz. It wasn’t his choice to go to Israel and have this experience. His mother made him go because she desperately needed a break from the trouble he caused.

I never asked Jeff to write me while he was in Israel. He decided that on his own. I loved getting his letters, and not just because he had an amusing outlook on life. He wrote about three main topics: the hot weather, having to smoke hash instead of pot, and who he saw in concert. But now, Jeff was reaching out to me instead of the other way around. The letters meant that he valued our friendship as much as I did.

I particularly enjoyed this letter because Jeff had heard that I was feeling depressed and suicidal. He wanted to try and make me feel better. I didn’t stop feeling suicidal. I had to work that out on my own. But his letter did make me feel much better.

Mickey Dubrow read at True Story #4 in April 2010. To share an artifact of your own and the story that goes with it, send it to truestoryga(at)gmail(dot)com.