Evening at Sisters
and home.
The privacy of having
my own little home is all right
but it is terrible lonesome.
I wish I could find some
man to suit me to live with
me that I may have
someone to talk to.
The many girls I’ve met
in the last weeks have
not inspired me to be entered
in this book.
————–
Matt’s Notes (Posted from Mexico)
Papa’s entries have been so sad lately, so focused on his loneliness and boredom, that it’s hard to believe he’s been socially active over the last few weeks and hasn’t been telling us about it. Has he met a bunch of unispiring women through his marriage broker, through friends, or at social events? Maybe one of his sisters invited someone over to meet him this evening, and his disappointment with her prompted him to speculate on whether it might just be better to find a roommate to keep him company. (Once in a while it seems like Papa is missing an English word from his vocabulary, and the way he writes “some man to suit me to live with” leads me to think he didn´t know the expression “roommate.” Then again, maybe it wasn’t commonly used in the 20’s. Please write or comment if you know anything about such things.)
Papa intensely disliked being alone, yet yesterday he described some romantic feelings about his ongoing solitude and today he makes a cursory nod toward the advantages of privacy. Maybe this means he´s trying to talk himself out of the deep, absorbing depression he´s felt for the last few weeks, to find a less pessimistic take on his isolation. Is he starting to feel a bit better?