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Happy Valentimes

This is the front of a postcard my grandfather sent to my grandmother before they were married, sometime before 1920. He never mailed it, so either he handed it to her or had it delivered outside of mail service.

His message: Dear Ola, You will be some what surprised to get a card from me. I must beg you to excuse me Sunday. I had a hearing from home and I am crazy to go home.

I have often wondered about this message. Knowing what I know about the Methodist church services in those days and how they lasted all day with dinner on the ground between morning and evening sermons and singing, I suspect my grandmother-to-be had invited my grandfather-to-be to spend Sunday with her family, and he wasn't able to make it because he was homesick for his own family. I wonder where he was that called him away, given that he was not in the military or at least not overseas. Regardless, she was patient, and he eventually joined her. They spent every Sunday together until she died in 1974. Here is the link to a photo of them from a previous post. Scroll down, because no, Wilford Brimley is not my grandfather.

Comments

Neponset River Bridge Dig said…
Wilford Brimley... poor bugger does all those commercials about diabetes now.
1:30 PM
Anonymous said…
mommy. i'm in college and i have a snow day! this means sleeping in, no classes, no quizzes... and building snowmen with ellen and claire!

tell prince michael i snort in his general direction.
2:28 PM
dive said…
I was going to get all mushy about how much more romantic things were back then, but diabetes ads and snorting daughters (hey, what a great name for a band) have taken the edge off the romance just a bit.
2:58 PM
Sassy Sundry said…
That is a lovely card, Robyn. Makes me ashamed of my conversation hearts.

We have some love letters my grandfather sent my grandmother. He was quite the man for romance. It's really sweet to read them.
3:19 PM
Scout said…
Rich, I used to think he was so charming, but the commercials lowered my esteem.

#1, yea for snow days and snow men and big red Os! Prince Michael snorts back in your general direction.

Dive, I never thought my grandparents were even remotely romantic, but by the time I knew them they were old and tired. Diabetes ran wreck a lot of things.

Sassy, I don't have any other notes from him except for the letter he scrawled when I graduated from high school. It was difficult for him to write, and I have saved it as a treasure.
7:59 PM
Cheltenhamdailyphoto said…
Tis a treasure indeed, Robyn. Beautiful. Hi No. 1. Enjoy your time off!
5:17 AM
Alifan said…
When we had to clear my Mum and Dad's house after they passed away, we found so many gorgeous cards they had sent to each other..... I felt really sad because I did not know how they felt about each other even after they had been married for nearly 70 years...they did not seem the hearts and flowers type...

But my sister in law has kept them and put them in an album for the next generation to look at.... (not Dive then as he does not like valentine)he will have a job when he has to clear my things, as I have so many cards that I have kept!!!!but at least I hope he knows how much his Dad and I loved one another..
5:43 AM
Scout said…
Alifan, the thought of having to go through my mother's things is a bit more than I can stand. Dive's veneer fades a little when he writes about how much you and his father loved each other, so I believe he knows. Thanks for this note--it's lovely.

And Hi, Lynn.
7:51 AM
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