July 13, 1971: Breakfast, Bikinis, and Eight Pages of Love

This letter was written 54 years ago , and it’s one of the longest ones yet — eight full pages of life, longing, and love.

My mom was in San Antonio, a few weeks away from visiting her friend Judy in Miami. But instead of picking up the phone, she wrote her a letter — because long-distance calls were expensive back then, and this was how people stayed close.

She tells my dad that she hates cooking — especially breakfast — and that he spoiled her by always doing it himself. And that’s the truth. My dad loved cooking breakfast more than anything. It’s part of what inspired him to open Allgood’s later in life, their little bar and grill. Breakfast was always his favorite meal to cook.

She talks about laying out at the pool, writing a bunch of letters to friends and family (many of whom I don’t even know), watching soap operas, and drinking rum and Cokes with Pam. And she shares things that made me laugh — like how turned on she was by his flight suits. She literally tells him to save one just to wear for her.

She also mentions watching the same soaps she did while on leave in Las Vegas — which is where my dad was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, doing helicopter training on the HH-43. That’s where they got married, too, just one year earlier, in August 1970. We haven’t gotten to that letter yet, but it’s coming.

Reading this one, you can feel how much she missed him. And how much they loved each other — not just in a big romantic way, but in the tiny dailiness of it all.

This one’s tender, funny, and real — and I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to get to share it.