In the Year 1943

My grandma was the ultimate correspondant. And she kept a running journal - I really mean that. You could probably look through her numerous journals and find the cost of bread for every year of her life. Unfortunately, my grandma passed away while I was on my mission in Brazil (having lived 20 minutes away my whole life, we were pretty close). A little while ago, my grandpa gave my dad some of my grandma's earliest journals. Each of the grandaughters (my sisters and me) got to choose one journal to keep. I chose her journal from 1943.

This journal covers her student teaching and graduation year in Ogden, Utah (where she grew up). It also covers the first time (yes, there was more than one) that she got engaged to my grandpa while he was stationed in Florida. And, as you may have suspected, it has a lot of details about her life during the war.

Although her actual entries are fairly brief (and always have the weather report), there are tons of cards, dance cards, letters, notes, and newspaper clippings. The majority of those clippings are notifications of deaths or missing in action reports of the young men. It is really hard to see how prevalent those are. I have also noticed that people in Ogden in 1943 were constantly going to get malts and shakes.

This year I have decided that I will read my grandma's entry for the day before I go to bed. It has been really interesting. Here are a few of my favorite entries:

Monday, January 18, 1943: (clear, but terribly cold) "I received my airmail registered letter from George today. It's supremely beautiful. I'm going to accept him. I believe that I love him. Marilynn and I ate lunch today. I saw M.M. she treated me to a sundae. I stayed home all evening. I received this poem from Vi. The letter contained the most beautiful proposal of marriage from George. I'm engaged now."

Monday, March 1, 1943: (cloudy most of day, cold) "The school hours have been changed, so I get through at noon. I ate lunch with M.M. (a good girlfriend) Harvey Turpin is in love now. Gosh, it seems to be contagious. M.M. came for me. We walked downtown. I never saw so many friendly soldiers in my life. It would have been easy to be picked up. We ate a sundae at Keeley's. We walked home."

She also includes the items that have been recently rationed. Anyway, it has truly been fascinating to read about her life day by day as she is in her early 20s.