April 2, 1943. A letter from Anna to Dad. Anna starts off with the “sick report” letting Dad know that “Mama feels a little better now and Theresa-Marie’s cold is better already. I think that mama’s bad teeth contribute a lot to her sickness because they spread poisons throughout her body. Mama went to the doctor with daddy and she feels a little better now and she hopes that she can get rid of them soon”
The Spring/Easter cleaning continues. As Anna reports “This week I have washed the walls and ceiling of our bedroom and it looks cleaner and lighter and smells fresh and clean. Next week I will wash daddy’s and so on until the whole house is all clean.” She also says, “We have new linoleum for the bathroom and it covers almost the whole floor. It is white, black and red and looks nice.”
Anna reflects on having the baby is the house. “Daddy and mama love Theresa Marie so much. I never thought they would love her as much just like their own children. They always call her Terenia, coreczka (Polish for daughter) and all pet names and the baby loves them too. She cuddles right up to them and you can tell it in her face. Babies, I guess know or sense when people love them and when they don’t.”
By way of contrast Anna tells Dad “Today it was in the paper that a girl had babies at 3 different times and killed each one by drowning them in her bathtub. She held them under for 20 minutes. What a heart!! How could she be so cruel to do such a thing – murder her own baby, her own flesh and blood. How could she!! I couldn’t get over it.”
As far as where Dad’s next assignment is, Anna notes that “when you pick a base I hope that you will have better luck than Stanley. It looks like they mostly do the picking for you. That’s what they did to Stanley – just said go and he went.”
Being early April in Albany they still get an occasional snowfall. She wraps the letter with thoughts that the family is looking forward to warmer days in the spring, “You bet when it gets warmer we will take Mama out with us to the country where Eddie can fish and mama and I and baby can play.
The Murawskis October 4, 1942. Left to right: Anthony (Dad), Mama, Anna, Stanley.