Oct 1948
Dorothy Griffin to Maude / LaCanada, CA
Dear Mother Griffin
When your letter to John came yesterday I felt very much to blame for the loneliness you described. John has been absolutely submerged in work for over a month now. For two weeks hearings for a new "orange order" were held here, night and day, then continued on to Arizona last week, and then John was in Indio for some "date hearings", and now he is in San Francisco for "walnut hearings" for all of this week. He came home from Arizona Friday night, worked in town all day Saturday.
After church Sunday he put in another section of new lawn. Elsie worked with him for a while and then came in with new appreciation in her eyes for the lawn that is now greening up front. She said she had no idea before what a terrific amount of hard work a new lawn took. Then yesterday (Monday) he flew up to San Francisco for the week, so you see how crowded his days are. This terrific pressure of work always tells on him - all his food disagrees. He told me Sunday that ever since the orange hearings began a month ago, he's been suffering badly with this nervous stomach of his, and he hoped when the hearings were over tit would quiet down. I think though he did get a letter off to Dad for his birthday as he told Elsie so Sunday.
Since I last wrote the boys have both had report cards from their new school. Bobs, as always a source of great satisfaction, but with the notation that he should improve in showing initiative. They choose him for president of the class one day and he refused as he said he did not know Spanish well enough to conduct the class. The teacher has taught the class since September a lot of Spanish words and they use them in conducting class business. She spoke to me about it one night and said then that Bob was extremely shy and retiring for one of his abilities. Since then he has been president and today he was one of the class "hosts."
Paul's card was exactly opposite, with "improvement needed" in all things save initiative and "gets thought well in reading", but right there is the possibility that Paul will forge ahead to his desired goal and Bob will have to be pushed or must acquire some of Paul's [characteristics]!
Bob, however, is on the Glendale "Y" swim team of nine boys and is "mastering all of his strokes" as he tells me. The meet in competition next Saturday at Long Beach. He is through this (channel) I hope he will lose his inferiority complex. I was going to say acquire a superiority complex, but if he will just become aware of his potentialities that is enough. He is making a very good thing out of his swimming so far and if he keeps at it by the time hi is in high school he will be able to find his place among the school athletes as well as the scholars, and thereby achieve an enviable social standing which means so much in school.
Paul's teacher told me today his improvement is marked in all of his relationships at school and she feels he will smooth out the rough spots now. I notice lately that he and Bob have much less friction and since he has learned to ride his bicycle he seems less clumsy. He must have worked at learning to ride the bike two or three hours constantly falling, until John came home at night and I urged him to something to help Paul. He lowered the seat and gave him some help and suggestions and within 15 minutes Paul was riding. The boy has much dogged determination and will-to-do that he's going to succeed.
Marian has outstripped both boys in learning to dress her=self at an early age. She wears little panties now except in bed, and takes them off and climbs on the "toto" voluntarily. She makes a nuisance of herself with her shoes and socks as she will have none of my help, and sometimes in the morning she will walk out of her room with shoes and socks on her pajama feet, and her dress on like a hula skirt, and beaming with the most satisfied air! She adores Elsie and presses all her dolls upon Elsie to show her love.
I have been slaving over my living room curtains which are made up of 33 or more yards of nylon marquisette and they are finally finished after using seven large spools of white thread to make them. I think they are lovely. I had a minor casualty in making them. I twisted my right hand while running the ruffle through the hemmer and in some peculiar way did something o a nerve or something so that ever since the first night I worked on the curtains my right thumb and first two fingers are half numb. I thought I had overworked the muscle at first and that time would bring back the proper sensation, but it is almost a month and they remain the same so perhaps a nerve broke or is pinched; certainly something went haywire. As a result it's difficult to write, or thread a needle, or many things.
I'm sorry about your continued ill health and I surely hope Rig's instructions will bring you relief. Elsie tells me you have difficulty in walking. How is Madge? I think about her often and hope she is ... feeling good.
I want to write to Ben and Marian soon. Ben wrote saying they might may buy a new car and come out and see all of us. I hope their plans work out and that they get the vacation and also that Ben gets his much desired and deserved promotion. We should like them to come on to the coast for their vacation and I want to urge them to do so. Elsie tells me Marian was photographed by Life Magazine for her "hobby" enterprises. Have they opened up a shop?
Take care of yourself now and don't worry too much. Worry can cause you more trouble than every other ailment combined. I know with myself I have to jerk myself up and think "Stop worrying, you're dropping years of a good life each time" and that realization helps me more than any other argument.
Love always, Dorothy
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