A brief note from Dot provides a few details of how she spends her time when she’s not working. Tonight she did some lettering for some Red Cross posters. Since she didn’t finish, she’ll probably spend tomorrow evening on the same activity.

She had a short visit with Cynthia today. She’s visiting from Oberlin College with her “best beau,” whom Dot met a few weeks ago while in Cleveland. He got his orders to leave school and report to Great Lakes Naval base in a few days. Dot says he seems like a nice kid, but so very young for Cynthia to be so crazy about him. He’s 18 and off to fight a war.

Dot was surprised to learn recently that her mother was engaged when she was only 18. Even though she waited until she’d graduated from Wellesley before marrying, that seems very young to Dot (who, you may recall, is 18 herself.)

She says once again how difficult it is to write when she has no new letters to respond to, but I think she’s doing a great job. Mom reminded me this week that during the war years, Americans were strongly encouraged to write often to service men. They were urged to keep the letters light, newsy and cheerful so that their menfolk could concentrate on winning the war instead of worrying about things back home. I think Dot does a consistently great job of following those suggestions.