Here’s a short, jubilant note from Dart, in spite of the fact that he received no mail from Dot today. He has been cleared for active duty! While his incision is still partially open and he must return to sick bay twice daily for the wound to be cleaned and dressed, he returns to boot camp on Tuesday!

Dot’s long letter spans five days as she tries to answer his many letters and keep up with school work.

She starts of with a good-matured rant about going to church. She reminds me of a typical 17-year old kid with her disinterest in church. Ironically, the woman who was my mother made church a regular pillar of her life, and to this day rarely misses a Sunday in the pew.

She answers his many letters and then apologizes for her pitiful response to his upcoming birthday. She had several ideas about what she wanted to buy for him, but a measles epidemic has all but locked down the campus and she was forbidden to go shopping in public. How grateful I am to live in a world where that nasty bug virtually has been eliminated!

She’s worried about exams next week, and made a prediction that she’d be sent home shortly thereafter. Not likely, if history  tells us anything.

Ah! She has received his beautiful love letter written January 7, and is nearly overwhelmed by it. She vows it will not be her who breaks up this relationship because she knows a good thing when she sees it, and he’s the best thing that’s ever happened to her.

She enjoyed his little limerick about Hirohito and has asked him to write more. I particularly liked this part, because Dad always enjoyed limericks. In fact, for his 80th birthday, our family wrote a “This is Your Life, Dart Peterson” sketch entirely in limerick form. He enjoyed it so much that he told Mom he wanted them read at his memorial service. And so, they were. Perhaps some day I’ll post a few on this site.

At long last, she closed the letter. I fear the postage on this volume must have equaled a week’s wages!