I am flying out to see my girls (my daughter-in-law and my 3-month-old twin granddaughters) this morning, and I have to get up in just over two hours so that I can shower and get to the bus that will take me to the airport. I should be trying to get some sleep, but I can't relax--and for some crazy reason, writing calms me down. Hopefully, when I finish this I'll be able to at least squeeze in a little cat nap before my alarm goes off.
Although I am, as always, a bit nervous about the flight, I'm also excited about this trip. I'm really looking forward to some good girl talk! Even if the babies can't respond yet, that doesn't mean I can't talk to them! The last time I saw them, about a month ago, they were really good listeners!
One of the great differences between men and women is that you will often find a guy who's a proverbial "man of few words," but less often will you find such a woman. Women just have a lot more to say than men, generally speaking. I don't know how often I've asked my husband, during one of our comfortable and companionable silences, what he was thinking about and gotten this response: "Nothin'." Seriously, I'll wonder; he has not had one thought floating around in his head, not even "I could really go for some nachos right about now," or "Notre Dame better beat Navy this year"? Nothing? Just a flat line in the old brain? When he asks me the same question, I don't even know where to start. Even when I'm sitting still, relaxing, my brain is flitting around from one thing to the other--and if he really wants to know what I'm thinking about, he better have some time to listen, because I'll talk his ear off.
A few years ago, I found these old postcards in "Just the Thing," a wonderful antiques/gift shop located in our little downtown area. They were mailed in March of 1912 to the Cartmill girls, Josie and Mertie (sisters, perhaps?) of Strickland, MO. I was drawn to the postcards initially because of the quaint Victorian artwork on them. (I've already written about the subject of Victorian paintings--an obsession of mine--at this blog, and I'm sure I'll write about it again!) Also, I am always awed when I hold in my hands a hand-written message sent from one person to another almost 100 years ago. I just have a thing about old stuff. And by the way, how often do you ever find a hand-written letter or postcard amidst the bills and junk mail in your mailbox these days? Anyway, when I flipped the cards over, I was even more charmed by what was on the backs of them than I was by the artwork, and I immediately carried them over to the cash register and bought them.
Since these notes were written in pencil and are difficult to read from these pictures, I'm going to rewrite the messages, complete with grammatical errors (for authenticity!).
First, here's what Cora had to say to Josie: "I am a little slow about sending you a birthday card. We are all well. Forrest has a tooth & can say dad, dad. We have got a hen a setting & have 32 goose eggs haven't set any of them yet am going to put them under the geese. [That was a bit of a run-on sentence, Cora. Slow down, Josie's not going anywhere.] don't suppose your geese are laying yet the men are sowing oats. have you heard from Charlie yet, we saw in the paper that he left Mon. Cora." I'm sure she would have gone on, but she ran out of room!
In contrast, here's Fred's note to Mertie: "Hello How are u I am fine and dandy. How do you like this snow, I think it is just fine I will ring off so bye Yours Fred." It seems Fred was way ahead of his time; u get the feeling he'd b gr8 at sending texts.
Okay, now do you see what I mean? These antique postcards illustrate my point perfectly--that women sure have a lot more to say than men. At least they think they do.
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