October 30, 1976
Dear Lurleen,
By now you know that life is not a Hollywood movie. Good times and bad times, we are all going to have our share. But sometimes the hero does ride off into the sunset, and some people do “happily ever after”—just look at the movies your mother made. There is always hope, and that is good.
I never could tell you why your mother and I divorced. I was not ever clear what to say or how you would react, so I wrote down these words. I know you had kind of asked over the years, and then you just gave up “kind of” asking every so often. Lana and I loved each other for a very long time, in fact, it was love at first sight for the both of us. You will have to ask her, if that is important to you. You were born the day the war began, and we had a beautiful daughter.
