Thursday, October 31, 2013

Thursday, November 18, 1943

It's kind of pathetic that I just realized this, but I am writing this blog 70 years after Grandma started writing her letters.  I didn't intend it that way, but now that I am aware I strike a grand ol' self five.

The weather in Miami was so terrible that Grandma didn't want to venture outside.  She somehow braved the forecast and danced the night away with the sailors off the DE 16 that is in port.

"Last night I went to a dance for the sailors off the DE 16 that is in port.  There were a couple of Montana kids at the dance and we had a good time talking over the best state in the union.  They were from Livingston and Great Falls but they knew some kids that I know."

WWII shifted so many people around.  It didn't matter if you had the money to travel, the military would make sure you got where you needed to go.  People who probably never left their hometown and probably never would, were sent all over the world.  With the men overseas, the military gave so many women a chance to strike out on their own.  Grandma answered the call for volunteers and it was one of my Grandmother's proudest moments.  She spoke of her experiences with the WAVES as if they were fairy stories.  They were enmeshed in my family history and I will tell everyone that I know that my Grandmother changed the world by being a WAVE.

Grandma is so busy being a WAVES that she had to stop mid letter and pick it up the next day!  She brings up Thanksgiving and speculates about a turkey dinner.

"Are you going to have a turkey Thanksgiving or are you going to save it if I get to come home.  I want turkey if I come.  I don't know what I will eat on Thanksgiving.  It is just another working day for me.  Xmas day is the only holiday the Navy has and at that someone has to be on watch."

Grandma has a habit of in her letters where she asks a question and then demands something from her mother.  Previously, it was about sending her laundry ahead and now it's about the turkey.  It's odd getting annoyed with Grandma over this and realizing I do the same thing.  Grandma is rolling her eyes and whistling through her teeth at me.  Those teeth whistles often said a lot more about her mood than her words did.  They were the sign of either joyous days ahead or that you should run for the hills.

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