25 Mar 1943
John Griffin to Elsie Mae Griffin / Arlington, VA

Dear Elsie

We were glad to receive your letter and learn that you might be dropping in on us any minute. I don't know whether this will reach you or not before I see you bat anyway here it is.

It is awfully hard to give advice in a case of this kind. It's the first place I don't know whether or not the advice will reach you in time and then too I probably don't see it in the same light that you do. There are several considerations as I see it.

First if you are still in love with the boy I would say that anything you could do to rekindle the flame is worth it, regardless of cost. If you are not quite sure and want to find out, or if you have simply got the marriage bug and think that this would be your best bet then that is another matter. Somehow I don't think that you should worry so much about getting married. After all you have most of your life ahead of you, and I just have enough faith in the Lord that whatever happens will be for the best. There are a lot of things worse than not being married, and one of them would be to be married to someone you did not love and could not live with. So first of all I would say to pray about it with complete faith that what ever you are prompted to do will be for the best. If after doing that you feel that you are still in love with him: and that he would be responsive then I would say by all means come.

You know him much better than any one else and especially me. I have merely met him on one occasion some 15 years ago and would not even know him to see him. I think that should you come back here it would be quite obvious to him why you did so, but if he still loves you that should not matter at all. If he doesn't I suppose the sooner you find it out the better. I think the fact that he hasn't written to you of this trip, or made any effort to get in touch with you is not very encouraging. However, that may be your fault, and you know best about that.

I just received mother's letter last night and I tried to find out where he was today without much success. I will try again n tomorrow and if things do not look so favorable I could wire you at the folks, if that would not be too late. On the other hand if I called him and then you dropped in from California the next day, it would really be quite obvious. Anyway I will try to locate him and find out how long he is going to be here and then if you do don't show up in a day or two I'11 try the dinner invite.

As for following us around, nothing could please us more and we have plenty of room for you here. You are welcome to stay just as long as you care to do so. I surely hope that whatever you decide it will work out for the best in the long run, and after all it is the long run that counts most. If this should catch you at the folks, let us hear from you immediately so we will know your plans. I wrote to you at Los Angeles the other day and, enclosed $10. Hope it reached you, if not, here's best wishes for a happy birthday.

John

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