Thursday, August 17, 1944

Engagements are funny things in WWII.  Grandma goes on and on about how Grandpa and she are going to be married, but then she doesn't want anybody in Missoula to know about.

"I got a letter from Laura the other day.  She said that Gale Madsen told her I was engaged to Roy.  Laura told her I was engaged to a boy named Bud and Gale said that I more than likely didn't want anyone to know yet so I just used another name.  Honestly, I don't know what to think.  I didn't want anyone at home to know, except the ones that I told, but I suppose everyone knows.  Don't say anything to anyone about that now, will you?  I told Bud and he got kind of a kick out of it.  I haven't written and told Roy yet, but I might.  I never had any understanding with whatever with him.  Oh well, I will wait and see how things turn out."

Then there is more gossip from Missoula.  Grandma's friend Marilyn is causing quite a stir.

"Laura said that she had quite a long talk with Eddy and that he said that he still loved Marilyn and that he might marry her right away if he can get her away from Martha and those kids she has been going with. ... I also got a letter from Marilyn and she told me all about what happened when Eddy was home.  He promised her that he would come to see her every weekend in Calif. now He also told her he knew part was his fault and wants to start all over now.  Maybe she will snap out of a lot of this foolishness and get back to the old Marilyn.  I hope so."

Not only is Marilyn running around with the wrong crowd, but she's also picked up some fascinating quirks!

"Laura said they all thought Marilyn had some nervous reaction.  She has picked up a way of jerking her head like Helen Kilburn and Spike Hayes do.  Boy, I got a kick out of that, here she thought she was real cute doing that and everyone thought she was afflicted."

Who are these people named Helen Kilburn and Spike Hayes?  Who would knowingly go by the name of Spike as an adult?  Unless you're in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and really want to make an impression on the neighborhood coven. 

Marilyn is the Karen of my Grandmother's group of friends, and I feel for her whenever Grandma lashes out towards her.  Then I recall that she ends up ditching Eddy and marrying Grandma's high school sweetheart, Roy.  Yes, the same Roy Grandma has to reach out to before he finds out about her engagement.  Needless to say, Grandma gets some wiggle room when it comes to the topic of Marilyn.  Marilyn so desperately wants to be liked and when her guiding force (Grandma) struck out on her own adventures, Marilyn lost her way.  From what I saw and remember of Marilyn when I met her when I was 4, it seems she got herself back on the right track.

Grandma and Marilyn and CHIEF!

On August 30, 1944

Saturday, August 12, 1944 - Monday, August 14, 1944

Great-Grandma Shannon is having a bad spell.  Grandma speaks honestly about her caregiving skills, and I know the repercussions of her statement.

"I wish I was there to take care of you, but I suppose I wouldn't be much of a help if I am anything like I used to be.  Remember the time you had indigestion and I asked you, in the worst part of your pains, if you had a stroke and it made you laugh and it hurt you all the more?  My, I was certainly a help, wasn't I?

Although she was not a natural caregiver, her humor often carried the family through.  There was always laughter in the Robinson household, even if it was the bitterest of times.

Grandma and Grandpa are now trying to plan their wedding!  They want to wait until the war is over so they can have a proper wedding, but I think the signs are there for them to make the commitment much sooner.  Even if all Grandma could concentrate on was a mosquito.

"Bud and I went over to the Luthern Service Center the other night, and there was a soldier and his girl that were going to be married and they didn't have anyone to stand up with them so we stood up with them.  All during the ceremony a mosquito was eating a way at me till I thought I was going to die -- I didn't want to move around and was it ever awful!"

Part of the process is Grandma's conversion to Lutheranism. I think the first thing to correct is Grandma's noun for the followers of Lutheranism.  She calls them Lutherns.  I love it!  She also talks about my two Great Aunts: Aunt Thelma and Aunt Charlotte.  It's odd to see her write about them as if she was an outsider.  They were always so present in our visits to St. Louis.  They were like my Grandma's own sisters and not just Sister-in-Laws.

"Bud has two sisters.  One is married and has a baby boy around a year old.  His other sister is 19 and is going to be married in February to a boy who is going to be a Luthern pastor.  She also plays the organ at church.  I went to church with Bud yesterday.  I think he expects me to become a Luthern.  I suppose I will, but I don't know yet whether I want to or not.  I guess I had better, because he is a devout Luthern and it might cause trouble between us later in life."

This passage is so much my Grandmother that it makes me giggle.  She always knew how to make me giggle.

Grandpa in his Navy Blues

On August 21, 1944

Friday, August 7, 1944

I am so thirsty for the knowledge in these letters.  They tell me things I could never grasp in the short 14 years I had with my Grandparents.  They quench my thirst and relieve my aching heart.  Speaking of thirst quenchers, let's talk about Beer.  Beer is part of my familial history.  It is present at every celebration and a drink of choice at dinner.  It is present in my family but not an issue in my family.  It adds to the joy that is my family.

My Father has a stake in a local brewery and is known through out our extended family as the beer connoisseur.  I have been popping beers open since I was 6 and my test question to potential suitors was, "What beer ya drinking?" Which was quickly followed up with, "What beer do you want to be drinkin?" Give me the cheap and watered down answer, you were never going to get along with my Father, and hence you were never going to get along with me.  NOW, I find that beer is in my maternal history as well!  My Great-Grandpa Robinson worked for Budweiser as an engineer, and they saved my Grandfather's family during the Great Depression.  Beer is a part of the family's social and generational history.  It connects us across the generations.

"I don't know when Bud and I will be married.  I doubt until after the war.  He is Scotch-Irish, some German -- a mongrel like we are.  I have been kind of leary about telling you where his Dad worked because he works for a beer company.  The Budweiser (sp) beer company.  I guess he is an engineer of some kind.  Bud has told me but I forgot just what he said and I hate to keep asking him, and I am scared to tell him you might disapprove.  I have read letters his Dad has written to Bud and he seems to be well educated -- he writes very well.  He wrote and told Bud that he approved of us and he said, "May God bless the two of you and go with you the rest of you(r) lives" or something like that.  I thought it was awfully nice of him.  Bud has two sisters, he had 3 sisters but one died a few years ago."

Any information that brings me closer to my Grandparents urges me to understand what is important in life.  Above all it's your family, and whatever joys or pains they bring you. They shape you and they share in your life no matter what.  If they bring beer, it usually adds to your joy and eases your pain.  Hence why most of my family gatherings are pretty joyful.  

Grandpa and his parents with some Random person who crashed the party
My Great-Grandfather (the beer engineer) is on the far right

On August 7, 1944