Episodes

Send us a text In the days just after her daughter’s birth, Sarah writes four letters to Dick — candid, funny, hormonal, exhausted, practical, and deeply loving. Read together, these letters capture early motherhood in real time: physical recovery, desire returning, emotional swings, boundary-setti…

Send us a text In the days following his daughter’s birth, Dick writes three letters from Vietnam — steady, protective, and deeply anchored in love. Read together, these letters show a father fully formed: reassuring his wife, responding to fear and exhaustion, and counting the days until he comes …

Send us a text In the week after his daughter is born, Dick writes three letters from Vietnam — steady, loving, and deeply present despite the distance. Read together, these letters show a man fully inside fatherhood: counting days, reshaping his routines, and writing not just to his wife, but into…

Send us a text In the days after her daughter’s birth, Sarah writes three letters from home — exhausted, joyful, overwhelmed, and fully inside motherhood. These letters are joined by one from her own mother, Gladden, writing to Dick from the middle of it all. Read together, they capture postpartum …

Send us a text In the days immediately after his daughter’s birth, Dick writes three letters from Vietnam — the moment he learns the news, the quiet morning after, and the first days of fully knowing himself as a father. Read together, these letters trace the shift from shock to joy to settled love…

Send us a text In the days immediately after giving birth, Sarah writes two letters to Dick from home — exhausted, joyful, in pain, and fully inside motherhood. Read together, these letters capture the reality of early postpartum life and the first days of writing not just as a wife, but as a mothe…

Send us a text On January 8, 1972, Dick writes from Vietnam the day after his daughter is born — without knowing it yet. As the story crosses from waiting into arrival, the letters shift from imagining a child to writing into her life. This episode marks a turning point: the beginning of a woman le…

Send us a text The mail still isn’t moving. The phone still hasn’t rung. And neither of them knows what’s happening on the other side of the world. So they write anyway. My dad, stuck in silence in Vietnam. My mom, ordered to bed, in pain, and counting days. Here’s my dad, Dick. Support the show Th…

Send us a text On January 6, 1972, Dick and Sarah write from opposite sides of the world as restlessness gives way to fragile relief. Dick feels isolated and nearly out of his mind as Benoit empties out and the mail still doesn’t reach him. Sarah, after days of intense pain, finds unexpected physic…

Send us a text On January 7, 1972, Dick writes from Vietnam with no idea that this is the day his daughter is being born. Cut off from mail for nearly a week, restless and exhausted, he writes to Sarah about waiting, worrying, and holding on to the promise of a life just days away. There is no lett…

Send us a text On January 4, 1972, Dick and Sarah write from opposite sides of the world as the waiting becomes unbearable. Dick is jittery, nervous, and desperate to know if they are parents yet, while Sarah—cold, exhausted, and in pain—shares the physical realities of late pregnancy and her hope …

Send us a text January 3, 1972 is a day of counting and imagining. Dick writes from Vietnam, off duty and restless, tracking football wins, movies, meals, and the shrinking number of days until he can hold his wife and baby. Sarah writes from San Antonio, pregnant and uncomfortable, counting down f…

Send us a text January 2, 1972 is a full day of writing — four letters moving back and forth across the world. Sarah writes from San Antonio, swollen, exhausted, counting Sundays, and holding herself together. Dick writes twice from Vietnam, tracking football losses, money saved, gifts opened, and …

Send us a text From April through December 1971, Sarah and Dick Allgood wrote to each other every single day while separated by war and distance. This episode closes out the entire year — gathering the people, routines, friendships, exhaustion, humor, and devotion that carried them through eight mo…

Send us a text January 1, 1972 arrives without celebration. From opposite sides of the world, Sarah and Dick begin a new year marked by war, late pregnancy, exhaustion, football losses that sting too deeply to write down, and the quiet certainty that they are almost there. These two letters open 19…

Send us a text On December 30, 1971, three letters move back and forth across the world — two from Dick in Vietnam, one from Sarah in San Antonio. It’s a day full of recalibration. Dick writes once early, once later, quietly shifting his countdown home. Sarah, drunk and honest, opens her door to fr…

Send us a text On December 29, 1971, Sarah and Dick write to each other from opposite sides of the world during one of the heaviest moments of the deployment. Sarah is late in pregnancy, physically miserable, deeply depressed, and frightened by a major bombing escalation now underway through Sevent…

Send us a text On December 28, 1971, the waiting continues. Sarah is exhausted, uncomfortable, frightened, and deeply ready for labor to begin. Dick writes from Vietnam after a quiet day, counting the hours without news and aching to call home. Together, these letters hold the tension of late pregn…

Send us a text On December 27, 1971, both Sarah and Dick are suspended in the same unbearable wait. Sarah is deeply pregnant, exhausted, and riding another false alarm. Dick is frustrated, delayed, and fed up with the chaos surrounding him in Vietnam. Across the world, they imagine the same moment …

Send us a text On December 26, 1971 — the day after Christmas — the outside world presses in. In the news, there’s talk of hijackings, unrest, and even a surreal story circulating about a plot to steal the Statue of Liberty. At the same time, Dick has recently been moved from Bien Hoa into Saigon —…

Send us a text On Christmas Day, December 25, 1971, Sarah and Dick spend the holiday apart — Dick on alert in Vietnam, Sarah surrounded by friends and family in San Antonio, very pregnant and aching for her husband. Dick writes with quiet sadness and restraint, wishing only for the next 88 days to …

Send us a text On Christmas Eve, December 24, 1971, Sarah and Dick spend the holiday on opposite sides of the world — alone, emotional, and deeply connected through letters. Dick writes from Vietnam after receiving a “jackpot” of love letters, counting down the days to home and imagining a future t…

Send us a text On Thursday, December 23, 1971, anxiety and anticipation peak on both sides of the world. Dick writes from Bien Hoa, convinced Sarah may already be in labor, bouncing off the walls with nerves and longing, clinging to future plans and a real estate manual sent by Bill Cobbs. Sarah wr…

Send us a text On Wednesday, December 22, 1971, Sarah and Dick write from opposite sides of the world as Christmas approaches and the weight of waiting deepens. Dick writes from Bien Hoa, quieter and more tired now, passing time, counting days, and imagining the family waiting on the other side of …