Dart is back at the naval base and has time to think about the days he spent with Dot.  He’ll give that topic the attention it deserves later in the letter, but for now, he tells her about an adventure he and his buddies had.

They were driving around the Norfolk area, looking for the place where the Navy sells worn out old jeeps for $60 to $80. On their way, they passed a small airport with a field full of little Piper Cubs and a sign offering flights. On a whim, the guys turned in and signed up. “Within a few minutes we were sailing merrily through the sky.” He reports that it was loads of fun but “terribly expensive — two bucks for 10 minutes.” He describes the bumpy ride down the runway, finding themselves suddenly airborne, the beauty of the countryside as seen from the sky. He tells of thrilling loops and dives and spins and banks, and then the ride was over. The guys had great fun in that brief exposure to flight.

They never did find the location of the rumored jeep sale.

He visited the education office on base to learn what he must do to get on with his schooling once he’s out of the Navy. If he hurries and if he gets a couple of lucky breaks, he may be able to start taking some of the classes he needs in pursuit of his degree.

Retuning to their mutual favorite subject, he writes that they seem to have had the same thoughts about their time together. He, too, wishes he’d kissed her as often as he’d wanted, and grabbed onto her and never let her go.

He agrees that their talks were good and he looks forward to all the future opportunities they’ll have for more, but he has another impression of them, too. “I hate other people for talking the way I did once in a while. It always seems to me that those people who talk (or brag?) about their self-called virtues are betraying a ‘holier-than-thou’ attitude. That is the light I see myself in, after I’ve said those things. Yet, I’m not sorry I said some of the things I did; only I bear a few misgivings for harping on them.”

It’s been interesting to me as I write this blog to see so much of the man I knew as “Dad” reflected in this young sailor. But sometimes, the young writer seems like a stranger to me. It’s when he gets on his preachy soapbox that he seems most foreign. My father was an honorable, honest, and sensitive man, but he wasn’t judgemental or preachy. He insprired those around him to be their best, but he never set himself up as the standard. I was happy to see that previous passage in his letter today because it signals the dawn of self-awareness that allowed Dart to become the upstanding, yet modest man that he was.

He writes, “It gives me a thrill just to be with you, to walk with you and talk with you. I’m unspeakably proud that you’ll be my wife, Dot. There could be no finer girl than you in the entire world.”

He adds that he’s glad he was able to control himself that time on Sunday night and he’s sorry he acted as he did in that one instance. He could never be angry at her for her response because she was so right to respond the way she did. “Thank you, Dot, with all my heart, for being you, for doing as you do and did, and for keeping your head when I lost mine for a minute or two.”

“I love you, Darling. This is all I can write now. Every minute we spend together serves to prove our love and to bind us together more closely.”

Dot was tickled to get a letter from Dart before she left for Sunapee. It’s especially helpful now, since Gordon left two hours ago and she’s feeling so glum. She had no idea how fast his two-week leave would pass, but now she fears she’s about to learn how fast Dart’s 30-day leave will go. She’s trying (as usual) to focus on the happy thought that she’ll get to see him again so soon.

Her last day at work was like any other, except the girls gave her parting gifts of pajamas and perfume and two girls were even “kind enough to cry.” Dot will shed no tears for Franklin-Simons, I’m sure!

She got her formal acceptance letter from Kent State today and her parents celebrated their 30th anniversary. “Think we can beat that record?,” she asks. They certainly did, nearly doubling it.

She fears she’s catching another cold and she hates to send this messy letter, but “knowing you have a big, forgiving heart, I’ll risk it!”

How she wishes he could be at the lake with them!