My Dearest Naomi by Jerry, Tina Eicher Page A

but homemade ice cream and cinnamon rolls. Those are excellent tasting foods if I’d had other healthy things to eat earlier, but I didn’t. Dan had told us to eat supper before we came, but I ignored the instructions since I was feeling yucky. Thankfully things didn’t get out of hand, even with not eating. I would have cried if I’d ruined the trip into Bloomington for myself.
    Robert was very sympathetic all evening at the gathering, which I thought was nice of him. When we were playing the last game, I must have looked pretty rough because Phillip Yoder said, “Well, Naomi, you can just go sit down and rest and think of Eugene.”
    Robert said, “You don’t have to sit down to think about him, do you?”
    And I said, “Certainly not.”
    It’s always nice when people around you understand, especially boys.
    Please tell Lonnie and Luella “hi” for me.
Late evening…
    Here I am again after writing you a letter this afternoon and getting it ready for tomorrow. I don’t know exactly why I’m writing now except I’m so lonely for you. I don’t know what’s the matter with me. It seems so much harder to be apart from you since your trip back. Maybe it’s becauseI’m still not feeling well. I know it will be a great relief once I don’t have this constant headache.
    We bought three storybooks on the trip into Bloomington, and I’ve read one through already. Maybe I shouldn’t read with my head throbbing, but it takes my mind off the pain—some of it anyway. I’m lying on my bed, holding my head with one hand, and writing with the other. My room is an absolute, total disaster and does nothing to revive my spirits. I suppose I will get things a little in order before I shut down for the night.
    Dad and Mom went to the school meeting since they like to keep up with what’s going on.
Friday afternoon…
    I didn’t go to work after all this morning because I still had my headache. Thankfully, it is somewhat better now. The young folks have something going tonight. They’re going to make cider at the Harveys using hand presses. Yah, that should be fun, and we’ll have cider to drink afterward. Don is driving tonight, and we’ll leave right after chores.
    How is school going? You haven’t written anything about it recently.
    I have to work tomorrow for Mrs. Bach because she wants to go somewhere again. That means John to take care of and that awful dog. Somehow I have to make friends with him, but he is a nasty creature with bulging eyes and chops that nearly drag the floor. I guess God made all creatures, and somewhere in the human heart there must be love hidden for all of them.
    I long to see you so much,
    Naomi

October 11
My dearest Naomi ,
    Things are exceedingly boring around here. I often try to imagine what you might be doing. I dwell on the sweet memories of our last time together, which tends to make the situation worse instead of better. It seems like years since I’ve seen you.
    My mom wrote yesterday. I followed your suggestion and sent her a fat letter. It’s hard to imagine that my school news is interesting to anyone, but she thought it was. And that’s about all the news I had to send her. She said she’s sending books for me to read, and she also tried to give me a pep talk. Apparently some of my misery must have come through.
    Last night the young folks attended services at a street mission fifteen miles from here. The place is open to anyone who needs meals and a bed for the night. There is one catch though. Before anyone stays for the night they have to attend an hour-long gospel service. When we arrived, there were around thirty men sitting inside, looking like a tough bunch. They had the men sitting on one side, and the visitors on the other. One of the young folk boys presented a devotion, and the whole youth group sang for twenty minutes. Afterward, Stanley, one of the married men who came along, gave a thirty-minute sermon.
    I think I would like working in a place like that.