It feels like we have discovered a long-term treasure.

For decades, a box sitting in my sister's basement has been forgotten. In the last few months of World War II, 43 of my mother's 43 letters met with me at the Red Cross in Rome, from the folder inside. Also, to our surprise, Comment Card Mom wrote about everyone.

If she died soon, her mom would have a century mark this year, meaning she received some of these letters at the age of 19. Most of the soldiers who write about the soldiers are about that age.

Worth gossiping? Emotionally energetic? There was no way to read them, so my sister Juanita, her husband Mark, and their sons Forrest and Aaron gathered to dig in my restaurant.

The first thing we do with these letters, the letters written on ultra-light paper, is by today's standards, and these greatest generations are actually calligraphers--swirl-like turf scripts, even on unregulated papers. Exquisite brushwork does not require writing skills to match.

Frank's one started every letter, hoping it would find my mother "in the best health". Then he told her where he wrote something-Mays Hall said-and what the weather looked like.

Others are more interesting. For example, Ed joked that his mom's name was to start a mistake. She was born in Panama, and "Oma" will definitely throw him away for the time being. "Dear Homha," he wrote, following, "bet you don't remember how I remember spelling the above."

My sister wanders around mom's comment card. "Edward," she read. "Meet him in Apo. A very good boy. We always talk about some way. He is 28."

That's Old. Most of her journalists are more like James, she noted that "October will be 20."

Romance of the Red Cross Social Club

Rome was liberated by the Allies just a few months ago, and the Red Cross, where mother worked, was a club sponsored by the military - almost every night and every night. Mom is young, crow-haired and irrelevant, she seems to have many suitors, some as smooth as Charles: "I hope to see you again,"

Others, including James, have performed poorly. "Want to know how many times I'll ask you before I date?" he wrote familiarly.

These guys, even in the signature, are full of surprises. For example, when Tommy signs and puts a smiley face in the loop, he loops the "Y".

“He was ahead of his time,” my nephew Aaron was delighted with family history lessons. “I don’t just browse,” he said with a smile, “I really like it.”

He is not alone. This is a mom, and my sister and I have no hints. When I asked our brother Steve what he knew about his mom during World War II, all he could think of was “She played pingpong?” - It makes sense because in family legend, that’s how she knew her dad. But a few years later, she met her dad in New York. She died before Forrest and Aaron were born, so it was a mom, grandma never knew, and her interaction was never mentioned through interactions with people she had never had before.

My sister picked up the comment card and giggled. "Oh, Sergeant Bob," she glanced at me quickly. "I think I love him. Blink, hot, bob, cute skin."

I have many questions.

Rating on skills of dancing and pingpong

When mom meets these guys at dance, she mainly tracks their Fred Astaire potential. "When he dances, he likes dipping sauce," she noted. She also sorts their abilities on ping pong. She wrote: "Man, play ping pong, but I beat him."

This loss seems to have fallen under Guy's skin because a few days later he wrote to her asking for a replay: "Any time you feel lucky, just come down, we'll get it once and for all. This time, I'll forget for a while, for the time being, you're a lady. PS seriously, I think you're a good player, but you don't think I'm a little good!!!"

“Love and lost the best…”

Mom kept a more serious letter. Its date is "two days after Christmas" and comes from a commander, which means he is at least 35 or 40.

He began, “Someone once said there was no fool, I once said, I would never fall in love again. Until last July, I did a great job.

He wrote that over the next few months, he returned time and time again. They meet. He has a silversmith making cameo that he wanted. When he caught a cold, she gave him a "medicine" cognac. He went on to introduce how he debated how he told her feelings, but thought it was selfish to do so. So he kept going back to the front without saying anything…pain.

He wrote: "I love you so much that I can't fall asleep at night and of course only eat food."

Decided to be selfish and express his thoughts, he came back to see her on Christmas 1944.

He wrote: "But this club trip was where I tripped. I saw your background was the background of all the boys of your own age.

He quoted some Tennyson's words - "Love and loss are better than not having a hobby" - and said he is bringing her "back to your generation." He then asked her to forgive him for slipping to Naples without calling her, saying, “I just wanted to see you dreaming, not when you say goodbye.”

A few months later, the war was over, and to the next Christmas, mom was at Barnard College in New York, where she met a Columbian law student involved her age, Tony Mondello - on the Penpen table.

Yes, he can dance-that could be the bent over. When we grew up, when mom and dad headed to the party’s dance floor, their friends always looked back.

So, in a sense, I think we do know the mom these guys are writing about - just not realizing or remembering over the years.

Let her children remind you that they are not like mom.