Letter #430804

Brantford, Canada, August 4, 1943

Dearest Sweetheart; Received your letter at noon today, and was thrilled to hear from you. I am glad to hear that you are fine and that you turned down the election job as I do not think you should do any sort of work that early in the morning. I want you to take it easy as we do not need the money that bad. We have several hundred dollars in bonds at home which is just as much yours as mine and anytime you think you need anything for yourself or the baby, I want you to get it.

Well dear, I am very, very sorry to say that I won’t be home this weekend. It is not our turn yet, it seems. I hope you are not too badly let down as the time will soon pass when I will be back again. So as I said before dear, don’t count on weekends too much as they are very uncertain. I am disappointed myself, but will enjoy my next weekend that much more.

It is still raining up here. I wore my rain cape all day, which was some protection, but my feet sure were wet, but a pair of dry socks, and a change of shoes before supper fixed everything fine. We are allowed to stay up till 11:15 PM tonight as there is a show of some sort at the drill hall. I do not know whether I shall go or not as it has turned quite cool this evening and my bed with a few magazines, chocolate bars and cigarettes seems like a good proposition.

I do not know what to say about Robbie, though I don’t doubt it as they are getting ready to ship everybody they can overseas. It is best not to think of such things, my dear, but just to take them as they come. I pray every night that it will soon be over and I will be back with you again, but it is best not to think of it dear as you might build yourself up to something which would never happen.

Well Darling, I will close now to catch the mail. So do not think of us in terms of war but as you and I and the little world our love has built for us and which will never be destroyed.

Good night Sweetheart. Your loving husband, 

Boy-Boy

Write soon as I wait each noon for your letters.

XXXXXXXX and millions more. 

Reflection: Indeed, some things have changed since the 1940s. We don’t really have magazines anymore, the chocolate bars have been replaced with candy bars with chemicals I can’t pronounce, and cigarettes are certainly frowned upon in a lot of societies.

However, some things haven’t changed, which is the need for me to learn how to be on my own and enjoy my time with myself and create my own happiness. For me, that was reading Horgie’s letters while listening to Duke Ellington, Harry James, Frank Sinatra, and Bob Hope on Spotify, eating microwave popcorn, and blogging my insights on the Frank Love Letters group on Facebook.  

I encourage you to honour your time with yourself, set good boundaries, and surround yourself with simple comforts of music, a special snack, whatever works for you. I can’t be on the go all the time these days and I was a bit surprised that it took me some time to figure how to plan a night in by myself and for myself. But slowly, improving on my time alone just 1% better each day made all the difference. 

This is an important lesson to learn in basic training for life and for later on in the story and understanding how to get through the darkest of days.