Every human has those days where the world just isn't working out. Usually, we all walk out of this funk and pull it together. Other days, someone comes into our lives and they smack us across the face with reality. I was in a terrible funk and then today three different people shook me back to logic. Now, there's a fourth person who has joined their ranks. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the first letter from my Grandfather Walter William Robinson.
On November 25, 1944
"AT long last, a letter from your new son, and a letter you've long deserved. I suppose BEtty told you in the letter she wrote yesterday, we've suffered no ill effects of last week's storm. Too she no doubt told you that we've finally settled in a very nice apartment (a big worry off my mind). In all the time we were planning on getting married and looking for a place to live, I had the terrible fear we were to have to live in one of the apartments where there fifty or more familys - I didn't particularly relish that idea. She (my wife you know) also has nodoubt told this is not to lager - since we're both working - to take care of, and yet just larger enough to be comfortable. (I hope she also told you what a poor typeist - spelled typist - I am)
Grandpa passed when I was only 8. This letter is the first tangible piece of history that introduces me to his true personality. Whereas Grandma is matter-of-fact, Grandpa is a natural storyteller. It gives me a newsreel of who he was. He's an expressive and lively young man who has an acute knack for self-deprecation. Which totally endears him to me in a heart beat.
"This has been on my mind for some time and I've wanted to write to you about it. I'm sure I'll muddle it up, I never could put into words what my heart wants to say - I'm like dad in that respect. I'll try my best to never make you doubt your trust in me - I love Betty with all my heart. I hope that neither Peggy nor Betty have built me up to the peak where I'll be a disappointment, I'm just a plain fellow whose outlook is American, I try to be honest with myself, as well as others. I want to meet you as soon as possible."
He really got me on that one.
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| Grandpa and Unknown pooch |
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