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!

Dot, Darling, it’s very late, so in order to get my sleeping done I should stop right now and begin the sleeping. I didn’t go to church today, so your letter didn’t get mailed. In fact, I don’t know what happened to the 24 hours which were supposed to compose this day. My homework isn’t even done as thoroughly as I’d like to have it done.

Gee, I miss you, dear. The moon was real lonely, but friendly, as I drove the folks home from the Burke’s tonight. You’re in for some short letters for a while, this being the first one. Even if I don’t write books to you, I love you more than all the words can describe.

That’s all for Dart today.

#          #          #

Dot describes the happy scene she discovered when she got home from babysitting at the Miller’s last night:  El’s friend Nancy Bristol and her entire family were having dinner at the Chamberlain home. When Dot arrived, they were in a lively discussion about everything El had planned for the upcoming Sunapee vacation.

This image reminded me how often the Chamberlains seem to host dinners at their house, and how often they are invited to other people’s homes for dinner. It made me wonder if this was peculiar to the gregarious Chamberlain clan, typical of small town New England, or was the phenomenon attributable to something else? Was it common practice among American families to share meals with friends prior to the advent of television? It makes me a little envious to imagine that was the case. How nice it would be to engage in such robust social interaction with friends and neighbors. I wonder how hard it would be to ignite that custom in today’s culture.

But back to the discussion. Dot warns Dart that he better pack his hiking boots, because there are plans afoot for plenty of hiking. Also, they hope to take the cog railway up the side of Mt. Washington. (Perhaps Dart saw the photo of that railway in a recent “Life” magazine?) To hear El go on, Dot fears they may need a vacation after their vacation, but the whole conversation has Dot so excited she doubts she’ll sleep much tonight.

She encourages him to take a train instead of a bus. The latter would get him to Greenwich late on Sunday, with another 6-hour drive until they’d get to Sunapee. The cost savings of the bus is not worth the time they’d miss at the lake.

Then she suggests that he buy a round-trip train ticket so that she’ll have his company when she takes the train back to Cleveland! “Sh-h-h. Don’t tell anybody yet. Do you think your Mom and Dad would prefer to know that I’m coming, or shall we surprise them? I know the shock would be terrific, though. Do as you think best. At any rate, I’m almost positive I can come. I’ve figured out my budget and I’ll have enough money to make the trip without withdrawing any of my $200 savings account.”

She tells him about a visit to Todd’s Mansion – it’s a huge house on Long Island Sound in Greenwich which had been converted into a number of apartments to ease the post-war housing shortage. It, coincidentally, was also featured in a recent “Life” magazine issue. Anyway, a couple of Dot’s cousins live in the mansion with their husbands. Dot and her parents were invited over to see some color slides of Sunapee which the cousins had taken on a recent vacation there. Color photography was still enough of a novelty in 1946 that the Chamberlains were awed by the beauty depicted on the slides. Arthur was so overcome that he nearly cried as he watched the slide show. It moved him enough that he decided to close his shop for a week and accompany Ruth, Doug, Harriet, and Gale when they go up on Friday for a two-week stay. Dot reports that her father said, “That place is truly heaven on earth. When God finished it He threw away the trowel.”

Says Dot, “I hope we can visit Todd’s Mansion when you’re here. The moon was almost full tonight, and its reflection in the water, which almost completely surrounds the place, was an awesome sight. The bay window in Betty, David, Marian and Thiel’s shared living room is over 84 inches wide.” Betty and Marian are Dot’s cousins, older sisters to Janie. These two sisters both married the boy next door – Ficker brothers David and Thiel.

She writes how glad she’ll be when they can see all these things together.