At home once more. I don’t mind staying here when I know you are mine. You are working – for me.
A long evening at home – the second one in about two weeks. It’s good to be lazy when one can dream and plan.
It’s going to be a close pinch [wedding]– but I don’t mind a bit. It’s going to be rather fun.
The Dell concert wasn’t as good as some I’ve heard. I’m contented, happy, at peace once more. I assured myself I couldn’t be happy with him – but I am in spite of myself. Elizabeth! Poor child has just had her tonsils out.
John called and I refused to go to the library with him in spite of my desire to be with him. Alice, Louise, and I went shopping this evening for hosiery and paint - coming come we saw John, Walt, Tony, and Al - corner loafers!
It hurt to see him there but the best policy to follow is not to tell him so - avoid nagging. Daddy's attitude always manages to get me so nervously upset before John gets here that I am almost nauseated - as soon as John arrives I can feel myself calm.
One perfect weekend. I love him - dearly and he loves me. We're actually planning to make it the spring. Spring!!! - It isn't really so far way but it seems so. After all these years - what are a few months. George and Mary's.
I enjoyed the evening but I hope we are not getting into the old rut. We must not. He is a darling. It all seems real to me now - as though it will really happen. So much has happened in the last four days that my poor brain has been in too much of a whirl at night to write it down. I shall always remember the last few days but I'll make an outline of them here, little diary, to keep a record of the dates:
Tuesday evening when John called he brought me a box of Whitman's chocolates for my birthday. He asked me for the last time if I would marry him - and I told him no - sending him away hurt - and leaving me to my misery. Wednesday, my birthday, I was ill and miserable and trying hard not to let the family see it. Just before six I mailed John a special delivery note. At dinner, an extra special one, Alice gave me a beautiful dinner ring. I had cards from a number of friends - including a very formal one from John. Thursday morning John called me. I had dinner with him in town. He met me in the train shed with a kiss. He was visibly nervous and so was I - as I had been all day long. I told him I will marry him in the spring and to my surprise, found myself gloriously happy and all cares apparently gone. Today my heart and mind have been at peace until tonight when I told my sister my bit of news and had my first cut. "Are you going to keep your job?" "Yes." "You'll have to." "When is he going to give you your ring?" She didn't say a word about being glad - well I guess she isn't. I might as well school myself in cuts. Nobody but Mother will be glad - and she will be glad because I am. I am beginning now to feel the strain of the last few days and shall probably cry my happy yet sad self to sleep. (August 19th is blank.)
C'est finis. The duel is over - our hearts have won. |
ContextThis is the journal of Virginia Lee Scott, my grandmother, written when she was seventeen and first dating my grandfather, John Arnold Wilson. It's a dairy published by Media Drug Stores and includes space for two entries per day, with facts about the era printed at the bottom, which I have included in italics. Following, 1928, is the journal of John Arnold Wilson, my grandfather, at age nineteen and in love with my grandmother, followed by my grandmother's journal in 1931. Archives
April 2018
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