This is for Saturday 1/23!
March 5th. - Judy waxes nostalgic about the John Grier Home and what she learned there.
- Julie never knows she is happy
- Judy's perfectly sure every happy moment.
- "I've a heart for any fate."
LOCK WILLOW. April 4th. - Sallie and Judy are at LW for Easter vacation and she's writing a book!
- Jervie says "Write what you know."
- "I was quite lonely without him--"
- Animal tragedies abound at Lock Willow!
May 17th. - Judy writes a brief, heartfelt invitation for DLL to come to her graduation.
- "Yours, with love and writer's cramp."
LOCK WILLOW. June 19th. - Judy has graduated and is writing at Lock Willow.
- Jervie and Jimmy's roses? Second best.
- Lots of male visitors at LW.
- Don't attend commencement? Dead to her...
July 24th. - All the news from Lock Willow - including a recent visit from Jimmie McBride and a forthcoming visit from Master Jervie.
- Judy's in LOVE - with her book.
- Marriage is a deteriorating process, evidently.
- Judy might raise broilers! Snappy ones?
- Jimmy's no financier - he's too kind-hearted.
August 27th. - This is a brokenhearted little missive of loneliness.
- New York? Switzerland? Where are you Daddy?
- "I wish I knew you, Daddy."
- Elmer H. Griggs must be horrid.
LOCK WILLOW, September 19th. - Judy is very unhappy and needs to talk to DLL.
- "Something has happened...I need advice."
LOCK WILLOW, October 3d. - Judy completely spills her guts to Daddy Long Legs about her love for Jervie.
- She sold her book! Still heartbroken...
- Letters very full of Master Jervie.
- Fourteen year start gives him edge.
- "I miss him, and miss him. "
- "I may be dreadful, you know."
- Writer and wife, not mutually exclusive.
- Jervie's sick AND DLL's sick? Strange...
October 6th. - Judy firms up her plans to finally meet Daddy Long Legs!
- If there's a butler, she'll faint!
- "Shall I ask for Mr. Smith?"
Thursday Morning. - Judy writes to her "very dearest Master-Jervie-Daddy-Long-Legs-Pendleton-Smith"
- Ew...Judy writes sappy love letters.
- "... like a shadow on my heart."
- Phew, the butler was very nice!
- "Dear little Judy, couldn't you guess...?"
- Judy would make a bad detective.
- "I can't be disrespectful to you!"
- She belongs to someone at last.
Okay, dry your tears and lets look at some questions!
The letter where Judy says she is aware of being happy whenever she is happy was so interesting. Do you recognize your own happiness when it comes upon you? [I don't think I did when I was younger, but now that I have the wisdom of advanced age, I like to think I appreciate my own happiness more.]
Daddy Long Legs doesn't come to Judy's graduation. Did it feel like a big deal when you graduated from whatever you graduated from? [High school was weird because I was supposed to sing and then I had laryngitis and wasn't able to. But it was good because at my sister's and my graduation party (she from college, me from HS) that afternoon she got me wasted and I was thrilled to have an excuse to not talk and take a much needed nap. College graduation wasn't a big deal, I had mentally checked out 2 years before and was just marking time like in prison. (Although I do have a lovely picture of me with my future in-laws at the ceremony that I now treasure.) Grad school graduation was a HUGE deal to me. That's what happens when you pay for it yourself! I have a funny story about how petty I was to a classmate that day - as we were one-upping each other about how hard we worked getting our degree. But it has profanity so I shan't share it here.]
Judy loves writing! It is wonderful that she found her calling. Do you feel like you've found your calling? [They say find a job you love and you won't work a day of your life. I haven't worked since I was 40 and became a high school librarian. Hands down, it's the best job in the world.]
Judy reaches out to DLL about her Jervie problems. He now knows the jig is up and is, frankly, probably pretty worried that Judy will hate him for lying. Do you think it is his near-death experience that allows him to come clean? [I'm not sure that's why I'm asking...]
We find out that Judy turned down Jervie's marriage proposal because he's too fancy. He think's it's because of Jimmie McBride. If Judy hadn't written to DLL about it, would Jervie have figured it out eventually? [I'd like to think so, but Judy wrote all these letters and didn't connect the dots so sometimes you just can't see what's right in front of you!]
Do you think that Jervie-Long-Legs' near-death experience is what keeps Judy from being angry about the lying? Or did the fact that he knew her so well from her letters convinced her that he was aware of what he would be getting into in marrying her? And does that make up for the manipulation? To some degree? [I'm not sure about the first part. Even re-reading with the my mental gaslighting alarm going off, I still can't stop loving that man.]
And finally...
Did you see the big reveal coming? [The first time, not at all! But on subsequent rereads, I usually remember eventually.]
Thank you so much for joining me and for your awesome responses! Jessica starts FAMILY SABBATICAL on Monday. Be there or be square!
xoxo
Barb, currently in Beverly, but about to head for the South of France with the Ridgeways!
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