March 16, 1943. Anna writes to Dad. A letter from Stanley with the news that he is stationed in Salt Lake City and destined to move on from there finally reaches her. Hopes for a furlough sooner rather than later are dashed. The family in Albany is disappointed to say the least.
Right off the bat she writes, “Today we received two letters from Stanley for the first time in a whole week. I saw them sticking through the mail hole and I was afraid to look at the address. Then I saw Salt Lake City. Shall I say that is far from home, and I was counting so much on seeing Stanley so soon. Who the hell shipped him out there. I felt more like crying than anything else. Poor mama felt so bad because she also expected to see him soon.”
Moving on from that disappointment she gets to other news. “Daddy had a wisdom tooth pulled out yesterday and he stayed home Monday. It was way in the corner just where the upper and lower jaws come together. It hurt Daddy quite a bit. The tooth would not have been pulled…but daddy got a sore spot on his gum by one of the teeth. Mama is going Thursday to Dr. Wheeler to have an X-ray of her jaw taken because it is always bothering her.
Along with the letter Anna is enclosing pictures of the baby. The photos were taken “with the new camera and a veri-chrome film on a bright sunny afternoon in mama’s bedroom.” She is also sending the negatives in case Dad wants copies made and tells Dad to forward everything on to Stanley once he has a permanent address.
The weather over the past weekend was nice so Anna had a chance to take the baby out. “I also saw Steve Prajzner Saturday. I met him while walking out on the Avenue. I saw him coming and his face was like a question mark as he looked at the carriage. I guessed just what he was thinking and said to him ‘Yes, it’s mine.’ He looked the baby over and thought that she was pretty nice. Sunday mama and I took the baby for a two hour walk and we met Mr. and Mrs. Blank. They couldn’t get over the fact that mama was a grandmother. Saturday Afternoon we met Sister Anselma and another sister and they looked the baby over. They liked her and sister Anselma was talking to Theresa Marie but she didn’t move an eyelash nor did she smile. She probably was trying to figure out who these people all dressed up in black were.”
In other baby news, “Theresa-Marie weighs at present 15 and ¾ pounds and she is starting to pull herself up already and pretty soon she will be sitting up by herself. She plays with her knees because she can reach them and boy is she delighted when I lift up her feet so that she can touch her toes with her finger. Then she laughs out loud and giggles.”
It appears that Anna is not the only one in the neighborhood with a new baby. “Carole DuRouville came around on Orange St. Sunday afternoon and she also had a baby. It is a little girl. I don’t know how old the baby is because I didn’t see her but the pink on the carriage means a girl. I only saw through the window because daddy saw her and called me. She was across the street.”
Well, that’s the news from Albany for the day. It looks like spring is coming soon and Anna will be able to get the baby out for fresh air more often. Anna does not know it yet, but on the day that she was writing this letter Stanley was on notice that he would be shipping out from Salt Lake City. In the meantime, Dad continues his training in Savanna.