March 1924
Mary and Cora
"So it is really all right if we leave all our children with you while we are in New York."
"Yes Mary. I have told you this several times already. And so has your father. And we have both told Matthew. We do not mind watching our grandchildren while their parents are on a much deserved vacation."
"It isn't really a vacation, is it? Matthew has to get Uncle Harold out of trouble. And if that doesn't work"
"If that doesn't work your father will have to go to America too. But we'll see about that. And Matthew won't have to work the whole time."
"No. It will be nice to have him for myself for more than a few hours at night. We haven't really been by ourselves since George was born and he turns ten in July. But I still think that maybe we should at least take him and Lizzy. You took Julie two years ago."
"But that was different."
"Why?"
"Because your father and I had had about 4 years of being at least almost by ourselves for a lot longer than just a few moments at night before we had Julie. You were all grown up by that time. And I wanted Julie to have us to herself so she would be aware of who her parents are."
"What are you talking about?"
"Mary, you can't ever talk to your father about this, promise me."
"I won't tell Papa. I promise."
"Before we took Julie to America I had the feeling, and I think that I was right about that, that she sometimes was a little confused about whether we were her parents or you and Matthew."
"What?"
"You take her along whenever you do something with George. And don't get me wrong, both your father and I are very thankful for that. There are some things when it comes to parenting that you and Matthew can do better than us because you are younger than us. But little girls usually want to be like their mother and idolize their father. Julie wanted to be like you and idolized Matthew. I am not saying that is wrong, Matthew and you are wonderful people, but it wasn't good for Julie at that time. That's why I wanted to take her. So that she would learn that we are her parents. And it worked. Especially her relationship to your father has changed. She still loves Matthew to pieces but she idolizes your Papa."
"Mama, I am sorry about that. I wasn't aware"
"How could you be? And it doesn't matter anymore, because those three months were enough to make it right. Your father still spends more time with her than he spends with any of his grandchildren. He didn't use to do that before we took Julie along. I don't think it is something that he does consciously but it is good that he does it nevertheless. It makes both of them very happy."
"What about your relationship to her?"
"That's different. She knows I'm her mother but she still wants to be like you. But that is because I spend a lot more time with you than I spend with her. She isn't angry about that and she understands that we spend so much time together because we do a lot of work together, but she thinks that if she is like you, I will spend as much time with her when she is grown up."
"Mama, why don't you take her along to some of the things you usually do with me? You could have her with you while planning the dinner menus or take her along to some of the charities. She is nine and rather well behaved when told that she has to behave for something. We can keep that up when I'm back and if Lizzie asks why she can't come along too, we'll just tell her that Julie is your daughter and has different responsibilities or something like that."
"That sounds like a good idea although I wonder if she isn't too young."
"I don't think so. She is wiser than her years. Maybe I should do more 'sister things' with her. To show her that she and I are sisters and nothing else. Sybil and I are going to London tomorrow. I still need to run some errands before we leave and Sybil wants to help Edith pick out baby clothes. How about we'll take Julie? We won't do anything too grown up. We'll stay with Aunt Rosamund, she won't mind having Julie around, I am sure I can convince her to let Julie have dinner with us. Aunt Rosamund loves Julie. And I'll convince Edith to come round for dinner too. Maybe she'll even stay one night."
"Are you sure about that? I thought you always went out for dinner one night, just the three of you. And you can't take Julie to a restaurant at night. Your father would have a fit and so would I."
"But we can take her to a restaurant for lunch can't we? We are only staying two nights, we'll have dinner with Aunt Rosamund both nights. I'm sure she'll agree. And we won't take the governess or the nanny because that would make Julie feel like a child. But I am sure that we can keep her in check."
"Mary, you are a wonderful sister."
"I am trying my best. With all of my sisters."
"Which proves my point. You worked very hard to become friendly with Edith, even if you probably won't ever be really good friends."
"I consider her my friend. Not as close a friend as Sybil or Anna, but a friend nonetheless."
"Which is a lot more than I would have asked for while you were children. I was glad you didn't try to kill each other."
"At the very least we didn't try to do so successfully."
"Go and tell your youngest sister that she will join you in London. It'll make her happy."
