Season 9
January 5, 1972: No News, Just Waiting
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…
January 6, 1972: About Out of My Mind
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…
January 7, 1972: The Day I Arrived
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…
January 4, 1972: Almost Parents
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 …
January 3, 1972: Counting Days, Talking for Real
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…
January 2, 1972: Just Eleven Sundays to Go
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 …
January 1, 1972: Happy New Year, Under the Shitty Circumstances
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…