A blast from the past

Digging through some junk boxes the other day, I came across a love letter from my Mom to my Dad. It was dated December 1 through 4, 1944, when he was in the Army, and two years before they were married. She would have been 27, he, 31. The following segment caught my eye:

Saturday finished, almost completely, my Christmas shopping & then met Mother. She and Dad are giving Fred[erika – Mom’s twin sister] & Tom bedside tables for Christmas & they wanted to give me an equivalent present, so I was to buy “a couple of tables’ worth of dress – “ or in other words, a very “yummy one.” We had no luck at our usual pet place & then went to another we like, a little place, & they had several pretty ones. I brought 2 home to “model'” for Dad – I am to have one & I think they may be giving Fred the other, of black wool jersey. The one I’m to get is so pretty – I just want to go & feel it from time to time & can hardly bear not bubbling about it to Fred. It’s a two-piece dress – really an unlined-jacket suit – of soft, light black wool, with a one-button-at-the-waist closing. Then into the front is stitched a very pretty crepe vest of pink, trimmed with black sequins (paillettes) & beads, & tied at the neck. It is lovely – will be nice for holiday festivities & theater later, & still later, with a frilly blouse will be perfect for spring. I “love it good,” as Mary Lib would say – now if I could just ‘doll up” in it & meet you at the airport like one Christmas evening -- -- !

This ended up being two full pages out of the 17 she wrote! It made me smile for several reasons: while he may have enjoyed a slice of home life, I doubt he cared that much about a dress. But mainly I smiled because she sounds like every textile person I know . . . ‘I just want to go & feel it from time to time’ are words I’ve heard more than once at a quilt show! Hope you enjoyed it too!