Letters from 1938

I just read through a stack of old love letters that my grandfather sent to my grandmother when he was stationed at Fort Monroe, Virginia. The letters start in October 1937 after a vacation they spent together. I assume it was the beginning of their courtship. (I'll have to verify this with my mother.)

The letters have yellowed with time; the edges of the envelopes are fragile. Three one-cent stamps adorn the tops. In the middle, my grandfather's neat handwriting addresses the letters to "Miss Mae Chapman Greenbackville, Va" and there is only one interruption: an old postmark stamp. I handle them with care. These are a part of my history.

I read the letters in which my grandfather announces that he wants to marry her, that he is in love with her, and that he's just sick over it. In one letter, he says he was nearly heartbroken when he discovered she had taken another date with a young man. He said he feared the new man might be a better man than him and he hoped that she wouldn't fall in love with him.

I never really knew my grandfather. He had a massive stroke when I was about 3 years old and he never really spoke much after that. I have always wondered what I missed, what experiences we could have shared, what I might have learned. He passed away a few days after I turned 16. Our story ended there.

Until tonight. Luckily for me, there are many letters left to read.