Oct 29, 2017

Wed, Oct 29, 1947: your preciseness

"After [play] practice the entire group headed downtown.  We stopped at the Mecca Cafe for refreshments before heading for home.  Jimmy Lindsay accompanied me to the house when I mentioned that my phonograph wasn't working as well as it should.  He is an electrician of sorts.  After studying the wiring he promptly put a wire with a condenser on it in the right place.  Now my tone control works again.  Apparently he's a genius on that sort of thing.  Next year he plans to go to Southwestern College.  Of course, he'll be working his way through to a certain extent. I told him I'd be on the lookout for job possibilities, if I am around the college later in the year....
"Perhaps I am a poet if lack of organization is the trademark.  Dreaming adds a lot to life--even though they may never come true.  I like to dream. Quite often it's nicer to dream or read an airy novel than it is to buckle down to life's realities e.g. picking up newspapers or washing skillets.  So far you character analysis is correct.  When it comes to organization in my studies I'm not so sure.  I like to make a schedule when i can keep up with it.  In many cases, however, I'm so overloaded that there is no possibility of that.  Then I simply drift along doing as much as I can with no definite plan.  That's the way I am now out here in Protection.  You're the mathematician who planned for every minute of your days.  When you come to Protection, I'm sure that your preciseness will be a good influence on me.  Perhaps we do complement each other.  But we definitely aren't poles apart on the matter.  Infact we are alike in many ways--in spite of the old saying that opposites attract."

--Letter from my father, Protection, Kans., to my mother, Winfield, Kans., Wednesday, October 29, 1947, evening. Two typos per original typewritten letter.

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