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DECEMBER 7, 1941 - JULY 1, 1942
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THE air between the family was tense, full of grief, anger, and confusion. The sound of Roosevelt's voice emitted from the radio, static and occasional pauses from the poor connection not tearing away from the importance for his words.
"December 7th, 1941, a date which will live in infamy..."
It was one of those moments where you remember exactly where you were and how you felt when it happened. The moment ingrained in your brain for the rest of your life. You're brain subconsciously telling you "Hey, remember this. This is going down in the history books!"
For Sidney and her family, they were sitting in their living room, parents sitting on the couch, her brother leaning on the stair railing, she was curled up in an armchair wearing her favorite baby blue dress.
Despite not having any personal connections to the victims of the attack, they all felt grief and anger. Every person in the country felt the same at that moment. One of the rare moments in history where an event unifies an entire country. Masses of young men flocking to army recruitment offices the next few days, all hoping to serve their country.
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In the summer of 1941, Sidney had just graduated from high school. The overwhelming confusion of what she wanted to do with the rest of her life led her to put off college. Her father, papa, always urged her to go. She was highly intelligent and was even top of her class in high school, an achievement that brought tears to her eyes. Her maman and brother, Beau, hung back and waited to support what she decided.
Her dad was born in France, moved to America by his parents as a child, working as a successful businessman in downtown Chicago (his family has never known exactly what his job is), and he's always put value on the education in the United States. Her mom, on the other hand, was born in a small town in Michigan, filling the role of a housewife, telling her daughter she could be one too or she could find a career. And her brother didn't really care much what she did, it didn't affect him.
Sidney took up a job as a lifeguard as she tried to decide, or rather procrastinated to decide. But due to living in Chicago, the job was short lived as winter rolled in.
The girl spent the next few months with her friends. Maria, not the brightest but always meant well, and Valerie, pretty and nice to her friends, but still a condescending person. Sidney was never the cocky type, but when you travel in a group of three pretty girls, life was pretty fun and simple for you if you played your cards right. Her dirty blonde curls were always groomed, her big sea foam green eyes always bright and alive, a button nose dotting her face, a pearly white smile wrapping it all up. She always grew self conscious at her thicker eyebrows (though they weren't bushy at all to an other person's view) and the freckles that dotted her nose. Even the beautiful have their insecurities, Sidney included.
