Excerpts from Old Letters

It's been a very lazy Saturday afternoon.  I'm watching movies and started looking through the box of old letters again.

From October 5, 1962

I'm trying to learn how to do all sorts of acrobatic tricks.  I tried flips today.  But I only managed to land on my head.

From October 6, 1962

I'm watching the Georgia Tech-LSU game now.  LSU is ahead 7-0.  Georgia Tech's quarterback is number 18 just like Marion was.  I've been looking for a 55 too, but I haven't seen one yet.

Last night we gained 247 yds. and Johnston only gained 97 yds, and they made 2 touchdowns.  I don't understand how that gaining business works.

I just found a 55 on Georgia's team.  I don't know what (position) he plays though.  They have a 22 too.

I think 55 is a center because he has one of those towels on the back of his pants.

The above excerpt from October 6  strikes me funny for a couple of reasons.  First, I had been a cheerleader at St. Philip's and by fall of 1962 was in my 3rd year as a high school cheerleader.  And yet, I didn't understand how that "gaining business" worked.  Secondly, my only apparent interest in the college game I was watching was in finding numbers that matched the numbers of people I knew...Marion-#18, Wayne-#55, and Harold-#22. 

From August 6, 1962 at cheerleading camp in Dallas (at SMU, I think)

If this is an extremely short letter, please bear with me--I think I have polio, or at least rigor mortis has set in.  I can't move anything but my thumb and one finger.  Such pain I've never felt before.

The letter from cheerleading camp must have been written on the 2nd or 3rd day.  We would have been really sore by then.

These excerpts might not be as entertaining to you as to me.  I see my teenage self and I kind of like her.

 

Excerpts from Old Letters

I must have written this letter after a high school football game.  It was an away game, I didn't mention where it was in the letter.  The football team always stopped to eat somewhere after the game and the cheerleaders always stopped at the same place and joined them.

From September 21, 1962

At supper after the game Coach Hayes called for a moment of silent prayer...we were silent, but the juke box was playing.  It was the first time I had ever prayed to the tune of one of Brenda Lee's songs.

I'm pretty sure it was the only time, actually. 

It's fun going through the letters, although I'm not tempted to read very many at once...it's a pain getting the letters back into the envelopes.  Back then I bought boxes of stationery with envelopes.  The paper was almost exactly the same width as the envelope.  What were they thinking?

I guess they weren't thinking that I might be looking through those letters 50 years later.  Neither was I.

Excerpts from Old Letters

I was putting something away in a file cabinet drawer this morning when I noticed an old box full of letters that I had saved.  I haven't looked to see when the last one was dated (I had apparently sorted them at some time), but the first one was to Wayne in September of 1962.  He was in Delhi, Louisiana, picking cotton for Frankie and Sammy Popp.  It was sweet of him to have saved my letter, don't you think?

I read two or three letters that I had written and then one his grandmother had written to him.  When I read the next one from me, it had a part that had me cracking up.  So, I decided to share that part with you.  I'll continue reading the letters and if any are worth sharing, I'll do so.

From September 20, 1962:

Do you remember those jars Mrs. Popp put the water in that I took to you and Bobby that day?  I still had them in my car and one of them broke and Margie Sublett, Cookie's small sister, jumped in the car this afternoon and cut her foot.  We didn't know how bad it was until Mrs. Sublett came out looking for part of Margie's toe.  I thought it was terrible and felt pretty bad, but Cookie says it happens all the time.  I sure hope I never find that piece of toe...Mrs. Sublett didn't.

That's all from that letter.  I can't wait to continue through the rest of them.