November 11, 1944--Mom to Dad

November 7, 1944

Dear, by this time you've had more mail from me, haven't you? You should know that things are pretty definite about our being parents next July. Isn't it super wonderful hon? Oh darling I'm so excited and happy I don't know that I can keep it a secret much longer. I want the whole world to know that I'm the luckiest girl in it 'cause I'm going to be a mommy. Joe darling, I love Mary-Jo's daddy awfully very much.

Very once in a while a baby Joe was mentioned.

Darling, I am so excited I doubt if I can keep it a secret much longer. I'll probably tell my mother soon and Peggy is likely it get it out of me at any time. Joe, I like having secrets with you. Dear, it's thrilling hearing my hubby say, "hello mommy."

November 8

Today I''m feeling quite chipper 'cause I talked with my husband last night. Dear, it was so exciting to share our secret. I like being a future mother awfully much. I love Mary-Jo's future daddy just millions of billions of times. I love ou more than all the babies that were born this year. Just think hon, ours will be one of the babies who'll be born next year. Byrdie just told me before that Gladys Adams ( the secretary who married her boss, remember) is expecting a baby the end of April. I had all I could do to keep from telling her that Mary Koch is expecting a baby the beginning of July. It's really too soon to tell anyone yet though. I wonder how the doctor will figure. I understand that they estimate one week after the first day of your last period and then say it'll be nine months from then. Which means that he'd probably say sometime around July 8th. My guess is about the 15th though. I've decided I'll wait until the 26th of Nov., which would normally be my next period and then if nothing happens, I'll arrange to go to the doctor the following week. I think I'll call Dr. Schanno and ask him to recommend me to someone.

November 7 and 8, 1944--Mary to Joe

November 7, 1944

Dear, by this time you've had more mail from me, haven't you? You should know that things are pretty definite about our being parents next July. Isn't it super wonderful hon? Oh darling I'm so excited and happy I don't know that I can keep it a secret much longer. I want the whole world to know that I'm the luckiest girl in it 'cause I'm going to be a mommy. Joe darling, I love Mary-Jo's daddy awfully very much.

Very once in a while a baby Joe was mentioned.

Darling, I am so excited I doubt if I can keep it a secret much longer. I'll probably tell my mother soon and Peggy is likely it get it out of me at any time. Joe, I like having secrets with you. Dear, it's thrilling hearing my hubby say, "hello mommy."

November 8

Today I''m feeling quite chipper 'cause I talked with my husband last night. Dear, it was so exciting to share our secret. I like being a future mother awfully much. I love Mary-Jo's future daddy just millions of billions of times. I love ou more than all the babies that were born this year. Just think hon, ours will be one of the babies who'll be born next year. Byrdie just told me before that Gladys Adams ( the secretary who married her boss, remember) is expecting a baby the end of April. I had all I could do to keep from telling her that Mary Koch is expecting a baby the beginning of July. It's really too soon to tell anyone yet though. I wonder how the doctor will figure. I understand that they estimate one week after the first day of your last period and then say it'll be nine months from then. Which means that he'd probably say sometime around July 8th. My guess is about the 15th though. I've decided I'll wait until the 26th of Nov., which would normally be my next period and then if nothing happens, I'll arrange to go to the doctor the following week. I think I'll call Dr. Schanno and ask him to recommend me to someone.

Dad Describes Meeting Mom

Her name was Mary, of course. She was a blue-eyed, smiling, long-legged, cool looking girl--a trifle naive. A girl with class he thought when he first saw her, but young. A bus seems an awful place for things to start, but there was she on a bus going to church and planning to have a chocolate ice cream cone with sprinkelettes. He was going to church too, but she sat in back of him and that was that.

He said hello to her that afternoon or more likely she said hello to him. Again nothing happened--there are lots of shapely girls in blue bathing suits at a lake summer resort. The summer resort was one of those let’s-be-one’big-happy-family sort of places--it even had a social director and a social directrix. Naturally one afternoon there was a baseball game in which all the boys and girls (in those places they’re all boys and girls even if the boys and girls have big boys and girls of their own) were to participate. Well this particular boy and girl were antisocial or mutually social. They sat out the ball game on a raft. Long afterward he learned her reason why she was there but being a romantic still doesn’t believe it.

They talked about prosaic things--families and schools; after all he was a shy young man. She wasn’t. Maybe that is why he was sure it happened then. That’s the trouble with shy young men: they are not used to openhearted friendliness. He never knew what she saw in him, but for the rest of the week they were summer friends. He struggled a little bit--an inherent male instinct. Why one rainy afternoon they went to a Bing Crosby movie in separate groups. They had only a week, not even a full one.

However, this time it did happen on a bus. They had made some sort of plan to ride back to New York on the same bus. He from the summer resort, she from Albany where she was visiting. He was positive. She says it couldn’t haven happened then--that soon.

He didn’t know the proper method of courting a girl, not a beautiful one like her. Oh he was quite proper. The movies he took her to were always approved for adults and children. A baseball game, a few football games, a little bowling--that was about all. He didn’t have much time, altogether three months. He then went away as did twelve million other men young and old. Oh yes, he finally kissed her once. He was very proper and very shy and afraid she would say no.