New Year’s Eve parties can be tough on the toes, even in 1939
When my mother Joan had just turned 16, she wrote a poem on December 31, 1938. It purveys the poignant longing of a teenage girl, yearning for the past and fearful of a future beset by rumblings of war.
Lovely party!
New Year’s Eve 1938
New Year Moment
Time, time, gather up your skirts for a moment
But do not depart.
Linger a while; I would hold this moment
Always in my heart.
Time, time – I want to steal this moment
Put it in an archive
Far within my heart. Then you may go out,
Leaving one past, and live.
The Blackhawk Restaurant was in Chicago, thriving just when Joan lived there
A Christmas and New Year’s card sent in Chicago a week before my mother wrote her poem
Home Front Girl 