A CHILDHOOD OF DELIGHT

Growing up a young man in the early 1900s - what an interesting time. The young people of today bemoan not having the latest iPhone or not being able to have more "game time" or "internet time". Ernest, I love that your sad lament on September 8th, 1914 was for long pants, "May I please have some long pants. Every other Boy in our class has them..." I suppose there's probably little difference between that and today's youth lamenting not having the latest whatever. For you having long pants was a right of passage to the beginning of adulthood. 

Don't be so eager to grow up too fast, Ernest. Adulting can be challenging. That lovely soul that you have, that tender heart that uses delightful terms of endearment for those you love, and that creative mind that devises witty monikers for signing off your letters will take some major hits as you grow to adulthood. 

The summer that you wrote your plea for long pants, your mother, Grace, wrote, "Ernest grew an inch a month this summer and became very strong and capable on the farm... He outgrew all his clothes." 

The stories you share in your letters of hunting, fishing, and adventuring in the woods and fields speak to a summer full of the out-of-doors. You are brimming with fun, and delight in teasing everyone and anyone who you can wrap your words around. Ernest, you are brave, and insightful. You play with words like you play with the stories you wrap around the life that is coming at you. Your unbridled creativeness exceeds the bounds of reality at times. Those who don't get you sometimes are critical of your creative flare for interpretation. 

Despite the critics you meet the world with an affable nature that tends to smooth the feathers you ruffle along the way. Your ability to weave a story and write a good yarn is already winning hearts and causing those around you to lean in, in order to see the world through your eyes.

Ernest, I appreciate your good naturedness. You have the capacity to lift people's spirits and capture their attention and engagement. It is obvious, from what others say about you and how they are drawn to you, that you are fun to be around. I wish we could have known each other as children.