Most Fridays I send out a real love letter that I’ve transcribed from a stack I bought at the flea market. Missed one? Check the chronological list.
October 5, 1961
Darling Kay,
I have the beginnings of another letter in my other notebook, which was written in the train station in Champaign. I tried to continue it on the train, but while the IC “rocks and rolls” are smoother than the CTA’s, they’re bigger. I can write legibly on an “L” train, but what I started on the way home last Sunday was useless.
It’s Thursday in his world, FYI.
Tuesday, normally free, was taken up talking Tony out of going to Purdue.
So, he does have family and friends? Who could have guessed?
This morning I finally felt the last “effects” of last weekend subside.
For any other college-aged guy I’d guess he was talking about being hungover or something but for Poindexter here? It’s probably just the stress of his routine being disrupted and a case of colitis.
That is, I almost didn’t mind getting out of bed and I was coherent by 8 a.m. I didn’t get to sleep til 1:30 a.m. Sunday night and it wasn’t till Monday and Tuesday that I realized how busy a weekend I’d had. But it was more than worth it, sweetheart, and I’d do it and much more all over again every week if I could.
BOW CHICKA BOW BOW.
I have made a resolution which I hope will become apparent within the next week or so.
I’m guessing we will never hear about this again.
Good news! I got a raise today. It’s not effective until the 15th of the month, but nevertheless it’s a raise. It will appear on the paycheck following the 15th, that is, the 27th.
This is relatable. I talked about money a lot when I was a poor college kid. And a poor 20-something. And basically still do because I can’t figure out how to be classy.
Homecoming is during the two weeks for which I get paid on the 27th. Life is looking decidedly brighter, and I’m counting the days until Oct. 20.
Brace yourselves! He’s about to get very maudlin.
Today was a beautiful day. Romantic. The kind of day to walk through a park or the woods with your best girl. Or go to horseback-riding or watch the sailboats on Lake Michigan. It was a perfect day for sailing and for opening your heart to the warmth and companionship and the endless fascination of loving someone. Someone most precious and adorable.
Why was this the first thing I thought of?
A day which reminded me of all the joys of the past and created a longing for the future joy of having you with me. It was also a sad day because we were 125 miles apart and the night will end within four or five hours, and we will still be 125 miles apart.
A day when school children are happy and everything is transitory but the jealously cherished pleasures of a bright sunny day after the rains are forgotten.
When fond memories can be a soothing balm and an unfillable vacuum.
When there is only one, most endeared person who can make the day a full one. A day to enjoy, and a day to hurry by in expectation of full and timeless days with that person. When time stands still and passes all too quickly. When a lifetime of happiness may be compressed into a few fleeting hours of being together. When the rest of the world does not exist for two people in love. But that’s the future.
Today was a day to spend in contemplation and the doing of good. Placed on earth by God, as a reminder of absolute goodness and as a portend of future happiness, as a mental lift for those who wait. A day on which waiting is bearable and nothing is insurmountable.
Contrast this letter with literally any letter he wrote from school! Has ANYONE hated college as much as Russ?
A day with which everyone is satisfied and no complaints scratch its polished appearance — bright and shiny and always remembered.
A day which is never forgotten in its mysteries its pleasures, it’s sorrows and in the itse very existence.
Is it weird I liked him better when he was miserable?
But what was so special about today?
Today I thought of you and held your treasured image in front of my mind’s eye as a filter for reality, and this I do every day. So long as I may do this, our separation can be tolerated, and the next time I can hold you serves as the subject of my dreams and the light of my future.
There is no subject about which I would speak more enthusiastically than you. Next to you, everything else is truly pale in comparison, and lacks the lustre of deep and sincere understanding and human nature. What more fitting subject for endless exposition than you and my love for you.
Awww. Life is fleeting, guys. Maybe go for a walk in the sun and hold somebody’s hand?
And for this letter, ironically enough, this will be my closing thoughts. Except, darkling — Sweet dreams, sleep tight, and take extra good care of yourself.
Love ad infinitum,
Tiger
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