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Authors: Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
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each year taking me up another step toward some unknown but enticing destination.
Spending Christmas with you in Honey Grove left us full of longing for times and places now lost to us. I relived the happy holidays of my childhood, and the children finally understood the full loss of the fire, talking about the house and recalling for the first time, or at least the first time aloud, much-loved objects they will never see again.
I am meeting with a real-estate agent this afternoon to start my search for a new house. I realize now that we have all been acting like rejected lovers, protecting ourselves from future hurt by pretending we were happier without a home. As convenient as it would be to declare our independence of material possessions, we cannot escape the fact that we are body and soul, and both require shelter. Nor am I convinced that the two are at odds with each other and that to deny one is to satisfy the other. I find my spirit strangely appeased when my eye encounters beautiful forms, my nose discovers a familiar fragrance, my ear hears music, my tongue savors a new taste, and my fingers touch beloved objects.
I know now that to live in a hotel as we have done these past few months is to relinquish authority over the exterior of our lives. We all have the powerâat least for a momentâto shape our environment, and how wrong of us to ignore this privilege just because it is fleeting. We must accept the fact that nothing we create belongs to us forever and let the act of creation be its own reward.
As you can see, I have had to travel a long path in my own mind to have the courage to buy another house and make it our own. I am still not strong enough to consider the possibility of building one; somehow I find comfort in the thought of occupying a house where strangers lived in safety.
All my love,
Bess
February 1, 1918
St. Louis
Miss Abigail Saunders
Director
Riverview Convalescent Home
Syracuse, New York
Â
Dear Miss Saunders,
I would like to reserve a private room in the name of Josephine Farrow. Her arrival is contingent upon the sale of her home, which has just gone on the market, so it is impossible to set a definite date at this time. However, I am enclosing a substantial deposit, which I trust will compensate for any inconvenience the indefinite arrival date may cause you.
From the photographs in the brochure, I see that some of the rooms look out on the mountains. Does this add to the price of the room? I am sure my cousin would derive great pleasure from the viewâbut not if she knew she were paying for it.
I would appreciate a prompt reply from you, confirming this reservation.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Robert
Randolph Steed
February 14, 1918
St. Louis
Dear Heart,
How sad to be apart on Valentineâs Day! That must sound silly coming from a grown woman with three children, but to me it will always be the day on which you first declared yourself.
It was in the fourth grade, shortly after Miss Appleton taught us the meaning of circumnavigation and I decided to make my world in you. In those days there was no difference between us. We were not boy and girl but two creatures totally alikeâand set apart from all the rest. Whatever games we played, we were always two of a kindâtwo explorers, two sailors, two cowboys, two swordsmen. In our Sherwood Forest there were even two Robin Hoods. No Maid Marian for me!
Then you gave me my first Valentineâa banner emblazoned with the crest of Richard the Lion-Hearted. I have never been prouder of any present until todayâwhen I received the stock certificates registered in my name, making me a major stockholder and member of the board of the Midwestern Life Insurance Company. It was another kind of banner. We were equals when we met and it is nice to know marriage has not changed my standingâin your eyes at least.
In your absence I have been occupied looking at houses. I am seeing one this afternoon that sounds most
Spending Christmas with you in Honey Grove left us full of longing for times and places now lost to us. I relived the happy holidays of my childhood, and the children finally understood the full loss of the fire, talking about the house and recalling for the first time, or at least the first time aloud, much-loved objects they will never see again.
I am meeting with a real-estate agent this afternoon to start my search for a new house. I realize now that we have all been acting like rejected lovers, protecting ourselves from future hurt by pretending we were happier without a home. As convenient as it would be to declare our independence of material possessions, we cannot escape the fact that we are body and soul, and both require shelter. Nor am I convinced that the two are at odds with each other and that to deny one is to satisfy the other. I find my spirit strangely appeased when my eye encounters beautiful forms, my nose discovers a familiar fragrance, my ear hears music, my tongue savors a new taste, and my fingers touch beloved objects.
I know now that to live in a hotel as we have done these past few months is to relinquish authority over the exterior of our lives. We all have the powerâat least for a momentâto shape our environment, and how wrong of us to ignore this privilege just because it is fleeting. We must accept the fact that nothing we create belongs to us forever and let the act of creation be its own reward.
As you can see, I have had to travel a long path in my own mind to have the courage to buy another house and make it our own. I am still not strong enough to consider the possibility of building one; somehow I find comfort in the thought of occupying a house where strangers lived in safety.
All my love,
Bess
February 1, 1918
St. Louis
Miss Abigail Saunders
Director
Riverview Convalescent Home
Syracuse, New York
Â
Dear Miss Saunders,
I would like to reserve a private room in the name of Josephine Farrow. Her arrival is contingent upon the sale of her home, which has just gone on the market, so it is impossible to set a definite date at this time. However, I am enclosing a substantial deposit, which I trust will compensate for any inconvenience the indefinite arrival date may cause you.
From the photographs in the brochure, I see that some of the rooms look out on the mountains. Does this add to the price of the room? I am sure my cousin would derive great pleasure from the viewâbut not if she knew she were paying for it.
I would appreciate a prompt reply from you, confirming this reservation.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Robert
Randolph Steed
February 14, 1918
St. Louis
Dear Heart,
How sad to be apart on Valentineâs Day! That must sound silly coming from a grown woman with three children, but to me it will always be the day on which you first declared yourself.
It was in the fourth grade, shortly after Miss Appleton taught us the meaning of circumnavigation and I decided to make my world in you. In those days there was no difference between us. We were not boy and girl but two creatures totally alikeâand set apart from all the rest. Whatever games we played, we were always two of a kindâtwo explorers, two sailors, two cowboys, two swordsmen. In our Sherwood Forest there were even two Robin Hoods. No Maid Marian for me!
Then you gave me my first Valentineâa banner emblazoned with the crest of Richard the Lion-Hearted. I have never been prouder of any present until todayâwhen I received the stock certificates registered in my name, making me a major stockholder and member of the board of the Midwestern Life Insurance Company. It was another kind of banner. We were equals when we met and it is nice to know marriage has not changed my standingâin your eyes at least.
In your absence I have been occupied looking at houses. I am seeing one this afternoon that sounds most
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