All my love,
Jesse.
Dear Jesse,
So sorry I damaged your super-soldier marines. Swearing is a bad habit anyway. Tell them that girls don’t like it, and if they want to be officers, or at least gentlemen, they should get out of the habit anyway.
I’ve been exhausted too. The library just got word that we’re moving to a new building next month. We’ve already started packing up nonessential items to transfer to the new building. It’s very physical work, which is fine, but my muscles ache when I get home.
The new building is only two blocks further away, but it’s three times the size, and it will have extra space for community events. We’re even getting computers for the patrons to use, so my boss is expecting lots of people coming in to use them.
I’ve been thinking about Dad a lot lately. It made me a bit melancholy, as well as left me feeling lonely. I wasn’t going to tell you, but Ava said I should be honest with you. Hiding things might only make it worse.
I wish we were able to talk on the phone or see each other, even if just for a few minutes, but I understand why we can’t. No outside distractions to keep you from becoming all you can be! Or is that the army?
Rather than sit around the apartment and think about it, I went to the food pantry and offered to volunteer a few hours on the weekend. While it makes me think of home, and I was sad that first night after I left, it felt good to give back to something that helped my family when we needed it. Hopefully, that icky feeling goes away with time.
Tell Jesse to stop getting you into trouble! You don’t need to be scrubbing toilets when you have things to learn.
Miss you.
Lots of love,
Lyrical.
Dear Sweetness,
Sorry it’s been a few extra days since I normally reply. Got myself into a little trouble, and it’s meant by the time I get back to my rack, if I don’t go to sleep immediately, I’ll still be awake when it’s time to get up.
Don’t worry about me getting into trouble. I just let Jamie lead me into something, and while it was successful during the exercise, we got extra physical training time for it. (However, our solution to the problem was pretty ingenious, if I do say so myself.)
Glad to hear work is going well. Tell Ruthie we’re trying out some new swear words she might like. The DI called us a bunch of pussies the other day for it, but I saw the one working hard not to laugh when Jamie yelled “Farfignewton” when he fell off the rope bridge. (He’s okay. Didn’t get hurt.)
Aced my military laws assessment from last week. Not only that, but I finished in the top five for marksmanship and physical training. Jamie, of course, was number one in those two—and just about every other category—but, surprise, surprise, the bottom of the laws assessment. Passed it, but he got the lowest score. Tests never were his thing.
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been feeling lonely, but I’m glad you told me. Don’t ever keep secrets from me, sweetness. It means the world to me when you share the bad and the good.
Just a few more weeks until graduation, and then I’ll be able to see you more often.
Missing you tons.
All my love,
Jesse.
Dear Jesse,
I sent a picture Ava took of me. Hopefully, it makes you miss me less. The dress is new. I bought a second-hand sewing machine and a few patterns to make some things for the apartment. It’s kept me busy at night and from watching too much television. I found the dress pattern, also, and thought I’d give it a try. It turned out pretty well, I think.
Now it’s your turn to have damaged people. Violet has gotten very attached to Jamie’s new swear word. It might be more effective if she didn’t giggle like a loon after she uses it.
The move to the library is finished. We were closed for two days to get all the essentials in place, and it was all hands on deck. I think I’ll be dreaming about unpacking boxes for the next month.
The new space is lovely. It’s like the “new car smell” between the carpeting and the paint. The patrons are really loving it. Seeing all their smiles every day makes me very happy.
That laptop you bought me last year has really helped me out at work. We have six brand new computers that were donated, and people are coming in nonstop to use them for all kinds of things—typing papers for classes, job hunting, emailing family. Most of them have no clue how to use them, and it’s a full time job helping them out.
The boss found out I knew my way around a computer and gave me the job of helping people out, and I love it! I even got a raise. It’s not much, but every little bit helps. I’ve been making sure that the few extra dollars go into an “emergency stash” in the apartment.
