WW II Letters: Dreams of a Vine-Covered Cottage, White Picket Fence, and Children, but a Girl First!

Mom was probably more a romantic than Dad was, but she dreamed of a vine-covered cottage with a white picket fence, a porch swing and kids everywhere.  I was surprised to see that Mom and Dad wanted to start their little family by having a girl, followed by boys.  This explains the stupid doll that was already there when I arrived in 1946, but I’m not sorry she was around.  The photo here is of my sister’s first doll from 1953, but it’s like the one that was purchased in anticipation of the first child being a girl named Sharon.  The doll made a good punching bag and got thrown across the room quite often during my childhood sessions of releasing tension before she and all my other toys were inherited by my younger brother and sister.  I honestly think Dad was glad to start the family with a boy, and it’s probable that he had been going along with Mom’s wishes just in order to appease her.  That’s my guess (hope), anyway.

                                                                                                                    April 16, 1945
                                                                                                                    Monday afternoon

Dearest Mom and Dad,

     This is just going to be a short note to let you know that the sergeant and I are just fine, and I hope you and Dad are feeling tip-top.  A day never passes, that we don’t wish we could see you.  We miss you both so very much.

     Elwood and I are always making plans for the time when he becomes a civilian.  Naturally, like every other couple, we dream of the vine-covered cottage, children, and all the things that make life worthwhile.  We also decided that on Sundays you and Dad are to have dinner with us.  You can scream, pull your hair, and beat your heads against the wall, but we have made up our minds.

     It has rained for the past two days (dat-rat-it), but I still don’t see any May flowers.  Do you suppose somebody’s been kidding me?

     Madame, do you realize that in ten more days I will have been Mrs. E.J. Bolinger for four months?  Elwood and I had copies made of our marriage license.  I am sending one for you to keep for yourself.  I think it’s rather nice, don’t you?  

     Ah, through the window I can see one little Pussy Willow.  I will close for now.  Please let me hear from you soon.  I hope you hear from Eddie.  God bless you both.

                                                                                                       Your loving daughter,
                                                                                                                Bonnie B.

About John

About John John Bolinger was born and raised in Northwest Indiana, where he attended Ball State University and Purdue University, receiving his BS and MA from those schools. Then he taught English and French for thirty-five years at Morton High School in Hammond, Indiana before moving to Colorado, where he resided for ten years before moving to Florida. Besides COME SEPTEMBER, Journey of a High School Teacher, John's other books are ALL MY LAZY RIVERS, an Indiana Childhood, and COME ON, FLUFFY, THIS AIN'T NO BALLET, a Novel on Coming of Age, all available on Amazon.com as paperbacks and Kindle books. Alternately funny and touching, COME SEPTEMBER, conveys the story of every high school teacher’s struggle to enlighten both himself and his pupils, encountering along the way, battles with colleagues, administrators, and parents through a parade of characters that include a freshman boy for whom the faculty code name is “Spawn of Satan,” to a senior girl whose water breaks during a pop-quiz over THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS. Through social change and the relentless march of technology, the human element remains constant in the book’s personal, entertaining, and sympathetic portraits of faculty, students, parents, and others. The audience for this book will certainly include school teachers everywhere, teenagers, parents of teens, as well as anyone who appreciates that blend of humor and pathos with which the world of public education is drenched. The drive of the story is the narrator's struggle to become the best teacher he can be. The book is filled with advice for young teachers based upon experience of the writer, advice that will never be found in college methods classes. Another of John's recent books is Mum's the Word: Secrets of a Family. It is the story of his alcoholic father and the family's efforts to deal with or hide the fact. Though a serious treatment of the horrors of alcoholism, the book also entertains in its descriptions of the father during his best times and the humor of the family's attempts to create a façade for the outside world. All John's books are available as paperbacks and Kindle readers on Amazon, and also as paperbacks at Barnes & Noble. John's sixth book is, Growing Old in America: Notes from a Codger was released on June 15, 2014. John’s most recent book is a novel titled Resisting Gravity, A Ghost Story, published the summer of 2018 View all posts by John →
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