Dear Diary

My grandmother, whom I never knew, kept a diary beginning in 1938 while she was confined in a tuberculosis sanitorium in Colorado.  Her hand-written recordings were brief, and run the gamut from descriptions of her poor health on a particular day to what someone else was wearing as they left the property.  She also commented on letters she received from friends and relatives back home in Arkansas.

I found this entry particularly interesting.  She wrote on Monday, September 26, 1938, "Listened to Hitler from 12 to 1:30.  Wonder if it means war.  Temp 101 at 1 o'clock but 100 3/5 at 2:30." I pondered what it was like to listen to Hitler, through a translator I presume, for an hour and a half.  I also felt her desperate hope when her temp had declined by a mere 2/5 of a degree.

She didn't fill in every day's entry, and in October 1938, she started writing about how discouraged she was becoming about her lack of improvement. On October 18, she wrote, "Have about reached the point where I can't hope much longer." Then on October 19, after talking with a pastor, a nurse, and a doctor, she "decided suddenly to go home.  Panicky & frightened."  Her notes say she left on the 5:15 pm train on Friday, October 21.  And that was her last entry, although she lived for another 17 months.

Then in 1942, my mother, who would have been 16, began writing in the same diary.  She was now living with her aunt and uncle who were her guardians, as her mother's death left her completely orphaned.

My mother's entries span 1942 and 1943, and are typical of what you might think a 16-year old would write:

• Music:  "Listened to Hit Parade--White Xmas is still 1st";
• Movies: "Saw 'Star Spangled Rhythms' after school"; "Saw 'My Gal Sal' with Rita Hayworth and Victor Mature."  Throughout she recorded many more movies and the stars of those movies.
• Friends:  "Nell blew her lid at noon because of something Bernice said.  Nothing else much."  I don't know who Nell was, but from other entries, she must have been quite a hot-head, as my mother remarks frequently about Nell being mad about one thing or the other.
• School: "A very dull day.  Gym starts - dancing and exercise- Mon & Wed.  Was elected Red Cross Rep." And "Had lecture on vulgarity of generation."  But in a sign of the times, she also wrote in different entries, "had practice air raid"; "everybody out on scrap metal hunt"; and "gas rationing today".
• Family: This remark made me laugh, so typical of a teenager even today:  "Damn Uncle Bud.  He wouldn't let me go to the USO Dance.  I hate him."   Uncle Bud died before I was born, but his wife, Aunt Edna, was a dear, dear person, and while she couldn't replace my grandmother in my mother's life, she was a fantastic stand-in.  She outlived my mother. 

I do plan, as time permits, to transcribe all the entries from both my grandmother and mother.  They tie me to my relatives, and give me insight to their lives, emotionally and historically.