Sixty-fourth installment from the diary of my great-grandfather’s sister Alise, written during the First World War. When the diary starts, she is living just a few miles from the front lines of the Eastern Front, and is then forced to flee with her husband and two young daughters to her family’s house near Limbaži as the war moves even closer. Her third child, a son, was born there in February 1916. The family has now relocated (again) to a home near Valmiera, and the Russian Revolution is in full swing. For more background, see here, and click on the tag “diary entries” to see all of the entries that I have posted.

If there is mention of a recognizable historical figure and event, I will provide a Wikipedia link so that you can read more about the events that Alise is describing.

February 13, 1918

The day has gone by working hard and that’s good! The German troops left again, leaving a disaster in their wake. Everything needs to be put in order, and still there is more work. Many dear people are visiting me, calming me and trying to make me happy, promising also that if there are hard times, that they will help. Oh, if only that wasn’t necessary! I am waiting and hoping for that bright and shining day when Papa will return and nothing will bother us again. For seven years we waited for TrÅ«tiņa to arrive, and now TrÅ«tiņa are waiting for Papa to come back. TrÅ«tiņa says that if Papa isn’t home tomorrow, it will be her saddest birthday ever.