Document Type
Personal Letter
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All rights retained by Bryant University
Transcription
[Transcription begins]:
Friday
Dearest Judson—
Darling, I love you so. Right now I’m lying in bed. That darned ankle. My uncle, the doctor one, was just up to look at my stupid leg & said to keep off it all day & as much as possible tomorrow & until the swelling goes down. It’s discusting [sic]! Why does everything have to happen to me!
Honey, I’ve been writing letters to more people this morning telling them that we’re engaged. Oh, Bill still hasn’t received the letter because I got a letter from him yesterday & I know he hasn’t or if he has he’s doing a darned good job of pretending he has[n’t].
I’m in bed now and will probably be here for the rest of the week.
Darling—Jean Molberg just called me & asked me if it were true. She was all excited & couldn’t believe it. She said that she had just gotten a letter from Dudley Nash so I got his address in case you didn’t have it. I can’t remember whether you said you were writing him or not but here it is anyway.
Dudley Nash, M. M. M. 3/c
U. S. S. L. C. I. (L 517)
c/o Fleet Post Office
New York, New York
If you haven’t written him, honey, try to right away if you want to tell him. Jean said she’d wait a few days before she wrote & told him so that you’d have a chance to tell him first. I thought you’d probably like to write him & be the first to tell him if you haven’t already. Well, honey, so long again. I love you very much. You’re the most wonderful person in the world and I love you more than anything or anyone that ever existed. You’re all I want in the world. I love you so.
Monday
Dearest Judson—
Golly, honey, you wanted me to stay home from work to write you a real long letter. Well, I did stay home from work but it’s almost quarter after seven now and I haven’t written at all. Time just flew today. I don’t know where it went. Honestly, I had every intention of writing you a real huge letter but didn’t get around to it.
Darling, I’ve been thinking about you all day, every second. I’ve never felt like this before. There were quite a few time[s] when I thought that I was in love but I know now that this is the first time I’ve ever been in love. I feel all shaky sometimes when I think about you. I still haven’t gotten over the way I felt Saturday and Friday night. Can’t understand it.
Last night at about two I was lying in bed thinking of you & listening to the radio. They played one song that is really swell—I’m not sure what the name of it was but it was something about “I hadn’t met you” or something like that. Maybe they’ll play it before I finish writing to you. Anyway, you’ve probably heard it. I can remember almost all the words except the title.
Today Bobbie brought the picture up to the Standard Star and I phoned in the announcement. They’ll send it to the Daily August & Grandmaw took another one to the Pelham Sun. They probably won’t be in the papers until Thursday or Friday.
The telephone’s been wringing all night. Everyone’s been calling up to let us know how their hangovers are.
Oh, after you left millions of people had come. It was quite a mad house. Honey, I was so lonesome. When you called up it was such a nice surprise, honey. Golly, it was good to hear your voice again. Everyone was telling me how cute you were & how lucky I was & how happy I looked & how wonderful you were. Golly, hon, I wish you could have stayed. I wanted to be alone with you so much.
Remember when we went upstairs just before you left. Daddy was looking all over the place for us—of all times for him to pick, honestly! So of course everyone knew where we were. That was almost so well planned, too.
When I called up Ginny today to tell her that I wouldn’t be in for a few days, she was so nice. Said not to worry about work & to be sure & stay home until it was all better. I hope that by Wednesday I’ll be able to go again. It’s so annoying to have to lie in bed all day. Last night the darned ankle was all swollen again & so I decided to be a good little girl & stay home. I’m afraid that if I don’t keep entirely off it, that it won’t be healed by next weekend & that would break my heart. If there’s any swelling at all, I won’t go to work so don’t worry, darling.
I just remembered the name of that song—“I Didn’t Know About You.” Have you heard it? It reminds me so much of you. You’ve changed me a lot, honey. Was thinking of that today. I’m so afraid that I’ll do something to hurt you, though. You’re so sweet and thoughtful. I love you so.
Honey, I wish that I could tell you how much I love you. There just doesn’t seem to be any way to showing you how I feel or telling you how deeply I love you.
You write the most wonderful letters, honey. I wish I could say the right thing all the time the way you do. Your letters are just like you and they always say just what I like to hear—(experience, no doubt).
Today looked like a beautiful day. What I could see of it between the slats of my Venitian [sic] blinds. Did you go on the cross-country yet? Hope that the weather is nice all week and that they let you off for a long time Christmas. Honey, when do you find out how long they’re going to give you? If it’s not too long, darling, I’m going to take some time off from work. It’s a shame that my ankle couldn’t wait until after Christmas. Gee, I love you so.
Everything seemed to change so suddenly, honey, Friday night. Before we seemed to be more or less kidding around all the time & then all of a sudden, everything was different. It’s a good thing that it happened, I guess. It had to sooner or later. And I think that it’s a good thing in a way that you’re leaving on the 28th. Have you heard anything about where they’ll send you? It would be marvelous if they sent you someplace where you could get home every weekend or kept you at Stewart for the rest of your training.
Darling, we were so lucky to have so much time together but I’d still like to have more. I hope when you get your wings that you have a long, long leave so that we can be married & together for as long as possible. You’ll get 15 weeks more training, honey, won’t you after you graduate?
Woody is going to try to come over tonight. I hope she can because then I’ll be able to talk about how wonderful you are to her. How is Steve? If Woody doesn’t come over tonight, I’ll answer his letter. He’s a very nice fellow. Did Gini go up yesterday?
They’re playing “Silver Wings in the Moonlight.” That should be more popular with so many Air Corps fellows around.
I meant to tell you—Mary Smith got tight last night. She could hardly walk but she was so funny. Carol had to practically carry her home. The worst part was that she was going to Jim’s house for dinner. That should have been something.
Darling, I love you so. That seems to be the only thing I can think of to say. There should be some other way to say it but somehow that’s all I can think of.
This week will probably go fast for me because I’ll be in bed most of it and if I do go to work it will be such a surprise when Saturday comes.
Darling—what do you want for Christmas? I know one thing I’m giving you but it’s only a small thing & just sorta something extra. You said you wanted a pen & pencil set but not what kind. I don’t know anything about pen & pencil sets so tell me more about what kind & color & everything! Tell me some more things because a pen & pencil set is the most unromantic thing I can think of. It’s so practical, too.
Honey, I think we’ll be so happy when we’re married. I know I won’t be completely happy until we are. Wonder if we’ll always hate crowds as much. Hon, it’s getting worse & worse, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t even know anybody else exists when you’re around except that they occasionally interrupt & bother us. I love you so, honey. I just want to be with you, honey, forever.
What time will we have to start, darling, to get up to the air show in time? I’d love to see you fly but it will be nicer to have you with me during the show, you can be with me can’t you? I wish we were married now, darling & there wasn’t a war & we could be together.
Did Steve get Woody’s letter yet? How does he feel? What’s going to happen if Gini invites herself up for next weekend? That would be cozy.
Gee, honey, it sure was good to be with you for a whole day. This was a wonderful weekend. Are you very tired, darling. I feel so much in love. You should feel pretty beat after carrying me around last weekend. Do you know that when you went down to the station everyone was watching you carry me. When I got back they all had something to say about how cute it was, and what good practice you were getting. All my relatives are crazy about you. They think you’re wonderful. When they say that one of my friends (boys anyway) is swell, that really means something. Frenchy thought I was very lucky. Boy, did he get tight! Everyone did. Charlotte, Muriel, Ronnie & I were up in my bedroom listening to the radio because we were sober & they were getting a little wild down stairs. I sure wish you could have been there, darling. It would have been so perfect. Golly, I was so surprised. In a way I was in such a daze that I just didn’t know what was going on. That’s love.
Honey, I love you so. Much more than I did last weekend. Every weekend seems to be the same—I love you so much more than the weekend before last. This just can’t go on much longer darling.
Well, honey, I’ll write again tomorrow. I love you very, very, much. You’re marvelous—I love you so.
All my love—
Dottie
[Transcription ends]
