Personal Letters
While my son and I were working in the garage on Friday, he found a packet of letters that had been stored in an old oil drum. Unfortunately, the drum didn't keep the dampness out and everything in the drum was musty, really overpowering musty.
The packet of letters was from his girlfriend before me and were mostly from the summer of 1953. There were a couple of pictures of her, too. I've only read two of the letters, so far. They are so musty that it bothers me to smell them as I read. But I'm finding that I really like this Linda. She really loved him and kept urging him to come back to Canada for a short visit. They met at Canadian Keswick and she lived in Meaford, Ontario. She wanted him to come to the CNE, in Toronto and they could be together again. This was the summer before we would be seniors in high school. It was also the summer that Marlin began to come to our youth group at church. I don't know how old Linda was, but perhaps our age or a little younger. Marlin never told me much about her.
How much she wanted to see him again but I'm wondering if that never happened. When he asked me out the first time, sometime in the late fall of 1953, he told me upfront that there could never be anything more than friendship, because he already had a girlfriend, in Canada. We would just go places together, have an occasional night out.
We went out more often then, talked on the phone a lot, and then one night he wanted to kiss me. I asked, "What about Linda?" He said, "Let me deal with that." Some time later he told me that Linda was no longer his girlfriend, and after that, he didn't talk very much about her. I'm really surprised to find these letters that he kept but I'm glad he did. He hadn't even looked at them since '74 when we moved to town, so I know he wasn't still in love with Linda, but I'm pleased that there was a special spark in his heart keeping alive his memory and appreciation of his former love. She should be special.
I wonder what became of Linda. I wonder if she's still alive and if she'd like to know about Marlin. I would love to meet her.
I have several more letters to read. I wish they didn't stink so of mold and mildew. I wish I could find a way to freshen them and keep them for posterity.
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You have such a huge heart - not just everyone would want to know and/or meet Linda. I'm sure she is special; after all she was Marlin's girlfriend for a while. I carry around "every" time I move, my daughter's box of love letters and cards from her high school days. She'll always ask me "You do still have those don't you?" Some day she will take that box and all the memories will gush back. But, it will be in her time when she's ready. I think I've told you that I have all the letters Mom and Dad exchanged during the war years.