Love is dancing by ourselves

Lil and Fred, 8/27/1941—This is the first photo of the two of them together, and this diary entry confirms the date. North Ave. Beach, Chicago

Charles Schultz wrote two memorable square-shaped little “Peanuts” books in which each page expressed a single, simple thought about love or happiness. You can click to see these classics on Amazon:  Love is Walking Hand in Hand and Happiness is a Warm Puppy.

Well, I think my mom’s following diary entries of falling for my dad could add something to those books:

Love is swimming in the lake together.
Love is dancing by ourselves.
Happiness is a farm wagon under the full moon.

I decided to revive this post because at my book launch for Redlined last night, my reading from my mother’s diary entries of falling in love with Dad received an enthusiastic response. Who can resist authentic expressions of love–and Mom’s diary is just that! My parents’ lives together is interwoven with the story of Chicago’s West Side and the redlining that undermined our community. But today’s post focuses on LOVE!

To see my first post about Lil’s diary about falling for Fred, see Falling in Love 70 Years Ago, and read on from there. (All past posts can be found on the right — just scroll down past the Twitter Icon to Blog Archive, and click on the one you want to read.)

Wed., Aug 27, 1941

Went swimming at North Ave. Beach However the water was extremely choppy and we had to stay close to the pier. (I picked up Fred at his place). We had a man take a picture of us after getting our street clothes on again against the lake. (see left) Then I drove Fred to meet his Mom, Pop, and Bill at a real estate office where they are trying to consummate a deal for an apartment.

Then we went to their house for supper and Fred showed me pictures and slides of their vacation. Fred and I fenced in the front room for a few moments too. Then he drove home with me and another nice evening was at a close.

Wed., Sept 3, 1941

Went swimming again, although it seemed very cold out. However, this time the water was just delightful. We swam a great distance and really enjoyed it immensely. Then we drove out to Hapsburg.

Fred is just like me–he can’t resist a polka or a waltz. So whenever the juke box played a number we just left our food and up and danced – a solo. We are quite immune to dancing by ourselves. After our chicken dinner and a few beers we went outside and went for a walk.

Oh, this was just about the most beautiful and gorgeous night we’ve had together. There was a full moon so bright it illuminated the entrire landscape.

We walked arm-in-arm down a side road, then saw a wagon in a farmer’s field and decided this was made to order. Oh boy!

Hapsburg Inn—Des Plaines, Illinois

Then we walked back to Essie and Freddie fell asleep while I drove home.

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