Very special "memories"

I was at the dentist's this morning. She doesn't think that the painful lump in my tongue is anything to worry about so I'm hoping it soon disappears. The check up was clear.

I've been doing more sorting out. After finding the notes my parents sent to each other before they married, I was surprised and delighted to find a bundle of letters from Dad to Mum.

Most were written before they married. The set in my blip were when he returned to Holland after the war to meet up with some special women he had met then. 

When his battalion entered Helmond, an industrial town in the south, people were starving. The soldiers took food from their mess and gave it away. Dad happened to meet with a nun, a school teacher and an author. Sadly they were all rather ill after feasting on chicken. It was too much for their tender digestive systems after a lack of food.

The friendship continued and Dad corresponded with them after the war. He made one visit back to Helmond. He and Mum were courting. The letters show how much he was missing her while he was away.

He returned with two beautiful watercolours that grace our walls and with a book written by Catharina Margaretha Clasina (To) Hölscher (Helmond, 16 January 1898 – Helmond, 9 December 1953). The book  was to explain the war to children.

I have looked at her page on Wikipedia. Once I discovered how to translate it, I decided that I really would have liked to meet her and Christine Banning, who she lived with.

My father left school at between 12 and 14. I am amazed at his stylish handwriting despite his lack of education. His letters are full of longing for the day he and his "darling" would marry.

I wonder what else I might find as I sort through Mum's belongings! 

PS The carnations were on Mum's coffin. They were Dad's favourite flowers.