The Diary of Mrs. X: Installment 2

I apologize for the long time between this post and the last one. After a discussion with my writer's group, I became concerned about some of the entries in the diary that are of a more sensitive nature regarding Mrs. X's complicated relationship with her husband. While those aspects of her life are interesting to see how wartime affected a family, because it's not my family and I don't know who they are, I don't feel comfortable posting those entries. I wouldn't want her rolling around in her grave because her private life had been plastered on the internet, and I wouldn't want to offend anyone either. So, for the sake of further privacy, I'm only going to post selections that I feel are appropriate to share - of which there is quite a bit, especially about Girl Scouts. I appreciate your understanding!

Tuesday, January 2, 1945

Back to school and to work! I went back to bed until 9:30! How I love that bed in the morning! Got Connie off at 5:30 – (tea in the bathroom for him as usual – He doesn’t eat breakfast when he leaves for work. I put up his lunch box & thermos.) Bev & Cheryl up at 6. More baths. Breakfast. They get it themselves. Cheryl takes 25¢ for lunch & Bev packs a lunch. Off at 8 – Bev on the school bus – Cheryl walks with Joan F. A teacher usually picks them up. And me in my bed again! Up, breakfast and then the washing. The hot water heater is still bad – so conferred with plumber over phone. He comes tomorrow. Rode bike to North Hollywood – 3 mi. to back & market. Home at 3:30. Bev & Cheryl wrote Xmas notes. I took water heater pipe out & cleaned it according to plumber’s suggestions. I believe it will work now. I hope! Put new washer on faucet. C. home at 6:30. Left over braised ribs. Almost all meat has gone back on rationing! Cheryl’s nice teacher didn’t come back!

This entry is especially interesting with the mention of the lunches. I really love that she mentions the amount of money Cheryl takes for her lunch. Also interesting is her mention that meat has gone back on rationing. In May of 1944, a surplus of meat allowed most meats to go off rationing, but not for long. Assisting our allies with food shipments soon led to restricted meat supplies and meat went back on rationing in December 1944. (See Sarah Sundin's fantastic article about it!)
Lastly, the mention of Cheryl's nice teacher not coming back is intriguing - was it a man who joined up or was drafted? Who knows! There was a teacher shortage during the war due to higher paying factory jobs and men joining up for the war. It's a interesting aspect of the American homefront you don't hear too much about.