I'LL BE SEEING YOU

1942

Daisy Abbott is 18 years old, and her beautiful older sister (Lillian Abbott) is 20 years old. Ever since Daisy was 14, she had a secret crush on Lillian’s handsome (although arrogant) boyfriend (Brandan).

Lillian expects Brandan to propose to her before he leaves to fight in WWII, but he clearly states that he isn’t going to. He isn’t ready to be tied down to the married lifestyle yet (since he wants to experience thrills, such as by being a bomb pilot), and he doesn’t want to leave Lillian as a war widow or the wife of a maimed husband. Despite his logic, Lillian stubbornly tries to convince him to do things her way, and then she refuses to even talk to him until he changes his mind -- which means that she isn’t with him during his last days before he leaves for war.

To not waste what may be one of his last opportunities to let loose, Brandan goes to the nightclub with a couple of his guy friends, where he drinks and dances with other girls. Daisy spots him there and gets concerned about how drunk he is. She takes his car keys and starts driving him safely to his parents’ house, but Brandan convinces her to instead make a detour to a romantic secluded area. His drunkenness and his emptiness from not being with Lillian push him to make moves on Daisy, and Daisy doesn’t attempt to stop him since her fantasy is finally playing out. One thing leads to another, and Daisy ends up giving herself away to Brandan. When Brandan sobers up, he realizes that taking advantage of Daisy was a mistake.

After Brandan leaves for the war, he sends Daisy a letter pleading her to not tell Lillian about that night since he does indeed want to marry Lillian one day. Knowing that Brandan viewed that night as a mistake makes it heartbreaking when Daisy realizes she’s pregnant. Daisy’s afraid to write a letter back to Brandan telling him of the news (since what could he do from England?), and she worries that even if he survives the war, it’s not realistic for him to marry her to raise their child together.

The Abbotts’ next-door neighbor (Todd) notices that Daisy is upset over something, so he invites her inside for tea and conversation. Todd is only a few years older than Daisy, but he already lost both of his parents, and he doesn’t have any siblings. Todd has taken over managing his family’s canned food business, and Daisy’s family has pretty much been like his adopted family. Over the years, there have been many times when Daisy went to Todd for advice (like a sister to an older brother), and many times when Todd went to Daisy’s father for advice (like a son to a father).

After Daisy explains her situation to Todd, his solution is for her to marry him so that she could have a cover story for his pregnancy and won’t have to raise the baby alone. Todd leaves out the part that he has secretly fancied Daisy over the years, preferring her sweetness, generosity, and inner-beauty to her self-centered sister’s mostly skin-deep beauty.

At first, Daisy doesn’t know how to react, but she later agrees to his proposal. They drive to another state to elope, and when they come back home, their marriage announcement shocks everyone. Even though hasty marriages were common at that time (due to the war), no one suspected their friendship to blossom into anything more, especially so soon.

Daisy gives birth to Bobby a couple months sooner than people expected, and since the baby is not underweight (like how premature babies tend to be), it’s clear that she must have conceived him before her wedding day. She and Todd get disappointed looks from her parents, and Todd worries that their image of him lessens, but he prioritizes his promise to keep Daisy’s secret over straightening out the story. Todd is a true gentleman in many ways. He doesn’t pressure Daisy to sleep in the same bed as him until she feels ready, and he treats Bobby as if he were his own son.

Meanwhile, Brandan’s plane gets shot down as he flies over France. For months, brave French citizens shared their homes with Brandan, shared their already meager food supplies with Brandan, and lied to the Nazis to protect him. Their bravery and generosity cause him to rethink his life. Instead of just being sorry for his mistakes, he vows to God to help him truly repent by becoming a better man if he survives. When Brandan returns from the war (and Todd was at work), Brandan asks Daisy for her forgiveness. During this visit, she begins feeling pain and then starts bleeding, due to a miscarriage. Brandan saves her life by rushing her to the hospital, which helps Todd relinquish his hard feelings that he’s harbored towards Brandan.

Later on, Daisy admitted the truth about Bobby’s conception to Lillian, her parents, and Brandan’s parents (who took on the role of paternal grandparents). Brandan didn’t dare try to take over Todd’s role of father to Bobby, but he does take on the role as a mentor. Lillian’s trust with Brandan never recovered, but Brandan got married to a different girl while Lillian went out with other guys. Todd and Daisy birthed a second child of their own (Elizabeth), but it is down Bobby’s ancestry line that Daisy’s great-granddaughter Brianna gets born.

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PRESENT DAY

Daisy is now the 98-year-old great-grandmother (“GeeGee”) to Brianna. Brianna’s a college student, and as part of an assignment for a history class, she needs to interview an elderly person. As she interviews GeeGee, her appreciation for her grandmother and her appreciation for the subject of history grows. She realizes that history isn’t just about memorizing facts; it’s about learning people’s stories.

History tends to repeat itself (both in terms of war and in terms of relationships) if we don’t study it to learn from others’ mistakes. It’s a good thing that GeeGee was able to help keep Brianna from making the same mistake that she had made by insisting that Brianna must think about a guy’s true character (not just his outer layer) when considering dating him and insisting that she be careful.

Brianna’s two best friends are Hannah and Adam (who are both devout Christians). Brianna has suspected for awhile that Adam might want to be more than friends, but she doesn’t let on since she doesn’t want to risk their friendship.

One day, a new guy named Greg shows up to youth group, and Brianna falls for his good looks and charm. Despite a bunch of red flags (e.g., him not going to Church every week, his parents not being religious at all, him temporarily parking in the last handicapped spot for convenience, him briefly looking angry/annoyed when she breaks off a kiss quickly), she agrees to go on a spring break ski trip with him, and she lies to her parents about who she’s going with out of fear they’ll say no.

The apartment that they’re renting for 3 days has two separate bedrooms, but in the middle of the first night, she hears Greg try to turn her bedroom door knob (which she had the good sense to lock). Considering how he was already trying to push boundaries, Brianna felt uncomfortable, and even though she already paid lots of money for grocery shopping (despite her dad’s budgeting lessons), she texted Hannah and Adam to come pick her up first thing in the morning. Like good friends, they did. Greg wakes up while she’s loading up her clothes, and says that he should have known that she would be a coward like typical Church girls. Since then, Brianna begins dating Adam, who has a much more steady and trustworthy character.

Back

Don’t take things for granted.

In 1941, Daisy and her family lived in a time where many things were rationed (such as gas and sugar). Many companies (like Todd’s company) signed government contracts to stop their production line and figure out a way to start producing resources to support the war effort (even if they didn’t have prior experience with how to manufacture compasses, etc.). Many people also received heartbreaking news that their loved ones were killed (either in action or even just in transport) or missing in action. Letters to/from soldiers who were still alive had to be unspecific (since “loose lips sink ships”) and letters were often lost.

Nowadays, people are more “spoiled” and “unprepared” for life’s hardships. Brianna has a cell phone and gets to go to college, and her version of “making do” is making do with borrowing her parents’ car until she can get her own car.

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You’re never too old to learn, so keep pushing yourself to learn new things.

“Never stop learning, dear. And never be satisfied with the easy answer. Go deeper. Look closely at everything. Even what your college professors tell you shouldn’t be enough to satisfy you” (17).

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True love isn’t new/first love. True love is love that endures. Don’t “follow your heart” if your heart is leading you to something that’s not good for you.

“I believe that deep love -- lasting love -- comes with time, with living. Love is often a decision we make on individual days for a lifetime. For some, that first attraction becomes a love that lasts a lifetime. For others, it can lead to disappointment and heartache… The world tells us to follow our hearts. But Scripture makes it clear that the heart cannot always be trusted. Jeremiah wrote, ‘The heart is more deceitful than all else’” (87).

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Is it ever ok to lie?

It’s not good to lie for selfish reasons, but there are some cases where it may be ok if it helps others.

Todd lied to protect Daisy’s secret.

Brandan’s life was saved in the war because brave French citizens lied to the Nazis that they weren’t hiding anyone in their homes or that he was a deaf/mute cousin.

In such dire situations, would we actually risk our lives to protect others?

However, in other cases where lying is tempting to save others’ feelings (when doing so may actually cause harm for them and others), it’s not ok to lie.

One of Todd’s workers (Roy) is an alcoholic. Before the company got the government contract to produce compasses, Todd was very lenient on Roy whenever he drank on the job, even driving him to his home and handing Roy’s car keys to his wife to hide them until Roy sobered up. But now that they’re on a tight government contract, there’s not as much room for leniency. When Roy gets word that his son (Harry) died “not-in-battle” (merely in transport), he drinks heavily and causes a big commotion. In response, Todd orders him to take two weeks off to grieve and warns him that if he drinks at all at work when he comes back, he’ll be fired on the spot. Daisy’s father confirms to Todd that he did the right thing and wasn’t too hard on him.

“We must offer him Christian compassion and understanding. But we must also give him truth. Compassion doesn’t mean lying to someone to save their feelings” (196).

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God, in His infinite grace, forgives (and redeems us from) even our worst sin if we genuinely repent.

“It was an aspect of grace to regret one’s sins. Not to regret and be paralyzed by it, but to regret and, therefore, make better choices. To choose not to return to sin. To press on in Christ” (301).

“He couldn’t undo sin. He could be forgiven. He could get a second chance. But he couldn’t undo what he’d done. That would be like trying to put autumn leaves back onto a tree after they’d fallen. Nature didn’t work like that. Neither did life” (348).

“God had not only forgiven her, but as she’d trusted Him more and more, He’d turned even her worst choice into good. // Oh, how His love and mercy amazed her” (373).