All Comments on 'If Only In My Dreams'

Another Melissa story so soon! I am blessed! Wonderful tale well developed and well told. You hit a homerun with this one for this old Petty Officer.

Happy Holidays to you and yours.

Cheers

SAGE

A lovely little story that could have used another page;-) Still 5*

Merry Christmas!

Well done, MB. You certainly did some research to get the flavor of the era.

Another one that pulls at the heart strings. Well done! Thanks for sharing it with us and Merry Christmas!

Outstanding as all of your stories I have read.

Fantastic story!

Thanks.

Clear, clean and sweet. Captured the time and the mood beautifully. Good backstories. Nice characters. Thanks for the time and effort. Believable romance in another time and place.

Thank you. My father died before he could tell me about his part in the European War.

You are an incredible storyteller. 5 ⭐️ isn't enough.

One of those rare stories that seems to need a sequel but is complete as is. Thank you for creating such a wonderful tale. Based on my limited understanding of the time, your explanation of America in 1945 was superb.

A lovely, interesting story, so carefully crafted that it seems at first glance to have appeared on the screen unbidden without a word or comma out of place. Thank you for your gift.

Lovely, charming, nicely immersive from beginning to end. BZ.

- V

Your stories are always so wonderful. Thank you for providing such an enjoyable morning reading!

That was probably the most beautiful thing I've read in the week I've been stuck on bed. You gave us a lovely Christmas gift, a wish for something wonderful from someone to a stranger, and the beginning of a beautiful love. (Speaking of Christmas songs, It actually brought a TSO song to mind 'It was the wish of a soul, on an old neon light, and the Lord smiled down, on that cold winter night'). Happy Holidays, and thank you.

Refreshing, honest, heartwarming and so timely.

If only in my dreams, wonderfully well written, heartfelt background to a hopeful promise of a future filled with wholesome, thoughtful companionship and love. Very well done.../A

I loved the story and the writing was excellent. The story was so immersive and very realistic. Thank you for sharing your talent here.

Very well written and a nice tale even if it was overoptimistic. Boy meets girl and within 24 hours they're thinking of a permanent relationship. Well, we're in Fantasyland so why not indulge in some make believe. 4* for optimism. Here in Dec 2023 we sure as hell need something positive.

You are a remarkable writer. Thank you for this!

Dust from my workshop - yeah, that's what it is, something in my eye.

A Wonderful Tale. 5-stars.

Really lovely, 5/5. Thanks for this story.

Beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it with me. Felt like I was there. Reminded me of my dad. He was in that war.

Wow. Just wow. Thank you.

Thank you for this beautiful story and the realistic characters you create. I wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas.

THANK YOU for a touching story.

Loved it, as always.

Thank you!

wonderful just wonderful

I loved your story. I wasn't ready for it to end. It earned a 5 anyway.

Nice, story. May be too short to descrive how two lone souls navigated till this happy ending

Christmas is the time for miracles. I can see Dorothy and Joe, in 50 years, telling the story of how they met with their big family…as became their tradition. Thx for a heartwarming story

Beautifully written, thank you so very much. Al

Another great story Melissa. I am like you and enjoy the old songs in their original form.

outstanding very well done

Very nice. 5*

A most lovely and beautiful story of two hearts finding each other, and maybe - just maybe - coming one!

We, your valued readers, need a Part 2 sequel to continue to warm our hearts and touch our souls.

Please?

Just a note: My father Ted was a B24 pilot flying from Norwich, England. Palm Sunday 1945, my father’s bomber was shot down after bombing oil fields outside of Hamburg. Three survived out of eleven. My father did not. Shot down by the new German ME-262 jet fighter which was the. Quickly shot down by an American P-51 pilot from Wisconsin. So many lives and families shattered with a quick burst of machine guns!

My mother was living it with my grandparents in Indiana when the 1st telegram arrived stating MIA. Then the 2nd stating KIA. My father just turned 22.

My mother. Just shy of 21, had graduated from high school, dated my father all the way through school, traveled to the Army Air Force by herself to marry my father, became pregnant with me, eventually traveled by train from Chicago to his Mountain Home Idaho bomber training base with my grandmother taking me to meet my father before he left to England. When she turned 21 in April, she was a widower with child, me!

When I was 8 years old, she brought my father remains back home to be close to our hearts. Mom’s ashes are now scattered over his resting place as her enduring love never wavered.

Bless you for touching this ole man and making in so misty.

1st Lt TW, loving husband of BW and father of SW.

All true family history documented by facts.

A delightful story. I was transported with vivid imagery. Thank you.

How do we vote in the holiday contest? Best story that I read on here ever!

@NAVDOC73

Thank you for your kind words and your support. The winner of the contest is determined by the overall score. To vote, simply use the rating stars at the end of the story.

My dad met my mom on his way to North Africa she lived near the embarkation base in Pennsylvania. They saw each other a few times over two weeks then wrote to each other during the war. He married her on his way home to Kansas 3 years later .

Amazed at your beautiful prose. You really made the characters and the setting so believable and vivid. Well done!

Brilliant piece of literature. You captured the essence of the death and destruction war brings and the toll it takes on the people who fight it soul. Based on current events, seems like humans have a very short memory. Again, well done and Merry Christmas! 5.0*

This is a great story! I’ve been posting a few 5* votes for some sweet romance stories, but I wish I could give this one more than that. I love your likable, believable, well-developed characters and the detailed descriptions of the settings. Your dialogue and descriptions read easily, and your editing seems flawless to me. The “main attraction,” however, really is the sweet story itself.

Thank you for writing and thank you for sharing your work!

Very sweet story, Melissa. It’s well written and feels true to the period and the situation. 5* and best wishes in the contest.

A most delightful story!

5

Definitely a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ story! Well written. Thank you.

JT

Ball point pens, were not available yet. ..

I smiled a lot while reading. Thanks

Nice little romance but a tad beyond belief with them coming together after 24 hours and look, Daddy has a job available. Missing the tension of a truly good romance.

Well written and factually accurate. Good job. A very old Chicago guy.

I may be smiling all dat thanks to you and your story. That was wonderful. Find a screen writer and get it to the Hallmark channel ASAP. Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. :)

A touching story, very sensitively told!

Unfortunately, I doubt that something similar could happen today. People no longer seem to perceive each other, only through screens, be it via cell phone or tablet, be it PC monitors. They no longer seem to live in a real life, but in a virtual one - and it has to be perfect, right from the start. They ignore the fact that you have to work (a lot) on and especially in a relationship to make it work - and are then surprised that they remain alone or that a relationship "doesn't work".

Which doesn't exclude the possibility that this can happen even when both are doing their best. Then it just wasn't right. But recognizing that and - even harder! - to accept and move on is something many people often don't manage (at least not so easily) ... !

Maybe we are just doing too well today. It is not said for nothing that the less material goods a person has, the happier they often are!

A merry Christmas to all the lonely souls out there - and may all their wishes come true !

5/5 stars !

Lovely story. Makes me want to real all your works now. Thank you!

Excellent job!

A sweet, sweet story. Well written with just the right amount of romance, a slow telling of backstories, and a touch of mystery (will they stay together or not), Thanks for a nice read.

The dreams never stop, they fade with time but a smell, a sound, a flash or the sight of something and they rush back.

Coming home at Christmas in 2005 was hard, harder in some respects than the nightmare of the Sandbox.

Came home the same… the dear John letter and a job that I was fired from.

Dreams….

Great story and well deserved WIN!

Thank you

I was truly hoping to place somehow in the Christmas contest, but after reading your tale, I realize I’ve got to get better if I want to compete with the best!! A tremendous little story about a very challenging time of shared sacrifice… and, if I might add, your story ought to be mandatory reading in this current moment of rights without responsibility!!! Well done MelissaBaby!!

When I was living/working in Japan during my first Christmas away, I sang "I'll be home..." for weeks. First it made me homesick; then angry; then sad. It's amazing how one little song, can emote so many different emotions. Great story, Melissa. Happy holidays.

A romantic tale with a HEA ending. Boy, don't we need it this time of year. Well done, MB.

Wow. Beautifully written.

Helluva good story, a tearjerker, full of heart.

Lovely stuff. Much needed at the moment. Thank you.

OH BOY THAT STOPPED ME IN MY TRACKS WHAT A WONDERFUL WINNER ..

A wonderful, upbeat story. Thanks, You have talent.

Wow! Masterful job of true storytelling. *****

A beautiful story - I need a kleenex!!

This needs more than five stars. Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and talent.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tc

Six stars.

A story so well written can be published in many places.

My Mom was born in Chicago, a great city.

I cried with happiness for Joe and Dorothy, and with appreciation that I have warmth, food meds (just recovering from pneumonia) and so much more

Sign me

Grateful for a wonderful read and so much more

Thanks for your story I’m a solder too

Every veteran has a vivid memory of coming home. The memories start as dreams during the few minutes of sleep before his next "watch ". The dreams are always followed by the realization that it may not happen.

We flew in as a unit, touching down on a runway I had landed on many times during my 19 years. I tried to remind myself it was just another ending to a routine deployment. But it wasn't. We lost a buddy.

We formed up as 2 platoons, and marched to the receiving area. A crowd was waiting for us. I starred at the crowd looking for a familiar face. We had to listen to a welcome home speech, finally being dismissed.

I couldn't move. I couldn't see them. Where were they? I saw him first. The little 4 year old boy running as fast as he could yelling, "Daddy"! As I looked up I found my daughter and wife. Waiting for my son to get the first hug.

As I hugged my daughter, my wife and I locked eyes, and in that instant, her eyes told me thanks for making it home.

That was a fantastic story. Very interesting and heartwarming story. BTW. Go Sox....lol

5stars

Beautiful ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Merry Christmas.

Anyone who served feels this more than understand. Welcome Home. Saepeus Exertus, Semper Fidelis, Fratribus Infinitas

Gotta add something. I don’t read heterosexual love stories. Period, end of sentence,just no. But I read this, because you wrote it, and you are a skilled writer. I hope you believe that, too. <3

A feel good story. A must read love story that I imagine many people of “ The Greatest Generation “ could truly relate. Sadly not too many are around any more.

A five-star general of a tale about coming home from the war.

Beautiful.

Very well earned prize in the competition. I have really enjoyed the story.

Thank you. I really like your writing style.

Loved your story telling about the war and the meeting and interchange of two impacted people. Also loved your detail concerning the pullman and the station. I kept wondering if you knew one of the principle characters and were retelling their similar story, or had just researched the 1940's, inserting the pair in a postwar period. Does not matter, really enjoyed your story and the realism of the post WW II period. - Vriesea

A beautiful story, thank you for telling it.

There was an ease and simplicity with which you described the turmoil and emotions they two were carrying.

Sheer delight.

No wonder this for first

excellent brought tears to my eyes thank you

Beautiful story, thank you. Reading this made my day.

Interesting historical fiction piece. I must say that anything set during one of the World Wars can always be quite a challenge to portray genuinely, and so there are certain things I look for, especially things like what you might expect from soldiers returning, as I had many uncles that served in World War II and so I'm very very familiar with how they acted years later. I'm also well aware of the history behind it, from the rationing, to other things like prices for candy bars and items of that sort. So I was quite intrigued to see that you decided to tackle a piece like this, and certainly I was looking forward to reading it.

***

You struck me by how largely accurately you drew Joe, and how you included some of his experiences to round out his character as largely on point. Also, it didn't surprise me that you succeeded well with Dorothy, because it wasn't uncommon for women during World War II to go to work at certain factories to help in the war effort; they weren't all nurses or just stay-at-home supporters. I also thought that you handled their interactions well, and you mixed that well with the holiday experience which they both took part in. You definitely nailed Joe's PTSD reactions in the form of his nightmares...because that is something that typically happens, and a lot of soldiers in order to avoid thinking about it, usually drowned themselves in a bottle. You also intrigued me about how you used a kind of dream/nightmare that he had, about the house on Wilson Street, and so I was also looking to see how you resolved that or addressed it. But dealing with a nightmares, and the troubled experiences Joe suffered, you certainly nailed those parts.

**

There were some minor grammatical issues: the biggest one being not using proper hyphenation when it came to compound adjectives in front of nouns. There were at least six to eight examples of that on the first page probably at least three to four on the second page just as a casual observation. Another thing that struck me was when you mentioned Joe entering the diner, where you said something to the effect of the warmth from the diner was real. That was an extremely awkward sentence that didn't really fit in the rest of the paragraph. I'm not sure if you had a beta reader or several beta readers, but somebody missed that.. because it almost makes no sense unless you were going to say that he fell asleep in the diner and then woke up and had to be reminded that he was in a real place. The rest of the paragraph was perfect as written in terms of how the smells hit him how the choices of foods impacted his psyche.. so that first sentence was best omitted. Additionally, since the story built up the idea of Joe having a happy or fulfilled home life, I was expecting some level of development to contribute to that. However, this is probably the biggest let down in the story, because this really wasn't addressed at all, except by I think one passing or Mark Dorothy made, and basically Joe coming to live with Dorothy or at least at her dad's garage? Now, you deal with the feelings of the holiday, and you deal with the hustle and bustle of all the soldiers returning, but you also miss some really easy historical markers that would make your story feel much more genuine: for example, the easiest one was to have listed the Hershey's candy bar as selling for 5 cents, which was what candy bar sold for then and was even something my mother told me repeatedly, because she grew up very poor during World War II, and the few times they had some extra money, as a result of one of the uncle sending back some money to try to help them out.. that was when they could go by this one convenience store close to where they got off the bus, and they could buy a candy bar for 5 cents. So why you avoided that when you've gone to some trouble or even extensive detail in some of your stories.. this is a really easy piece of historical information to include, yet you avoided it. Why? Furthermore, you could have mentioned Joe paying $2.35 for his breakfast at the diner, because that would have been how much it cost in that year. I easily looked these things up on Google to confirm my suspicions, so to not nail down your story with some interesting historical facts.. I'm really at a loss to explain why you avoided that when you've gone to such great lengths in other stories. Then addressing the fact that Joe never realizes his dream of seeing a warm and welcoming home, which is something you kind of suggest is going to happen but you leave it there. This was a pretty serious mistake, as the only way to kind of deal with the PTSD and to really show progress, is to show Joe realizing that dream at least the beginnings of it which you don't get to. The other thing is we as readers were sold on this New Year's Eve and New Year's dance with Dorothy, and the story ends with Joe entering Dorothy's house. Now once more, we can assume that the date happens and they probably got married, since you kind of used one of the kids to foreshadow Joe being their new uncle; however the very least that should have been done was include enough narrative to show how the New Year's Eve date went, how Joe dealt with the dancing, and what other things happened. As a smaller note, while it's not far fetched at all that Joe would have been invited into Dorothy's house, and it wouldn't have seemed unlikely that her dad is a plumber would not have hired him, it would be far too convenient that the same person giving him a job- - despite him being a soldier - - would also offer to put him up. That part would strongly conflict with the morals at the time, and that really sticks out like a sore thumb, because while a gentleman caller would be welcome to attend a meal, he would never be welcome to stay with the family somewhere regardless of what he did. So that part was a significant error.

***

On the balance, this is a largely accurate historical fiction piece. You certainly portray the soldier and his PTSD well, and you definitely succeed in portraying Dorothy as the typical, self-sacrificing woman that would have been common to that era. However, for whatever reason you miss including obvious historical markers like the 5-cent candy bar and the $2.35 breakfast which would have been extremely easy to look up and just solidify the story is credibility and it's time frame. Well certainly inviting Joe into Dorothy's home and him getting to meet Dorothy's nieces and nephews was not an unheard of event, the story suffered from not having enough detail provided about how the dates with Dorothy was going to go, how Dorothy's dad was going to set him up in his alternate place, but especially how the dream which you hung your hat on.. was going to change or improve with Dorothy in his life. So while it was a very enjoyable read and felt largely historically accurate, there were details and narrative shortfalls that would have left the more attentive reader wondering why it wasn't included.**4**

What a wonderful read! Congratulations on taking the prize. You certainly deserve it :-)

MelissaBaby, Thank you for this heartwarming story. Please don't let the overcritical review dampen your enthusiasm for writing. I think you handled the war parts beautifully...a difficult subject matter to bring facts and feelings to life...which you did. I wasn't expecting to be pulled into the story as much as I was. Your characters are real and their interactions were lovely. Thank you for sharing your talents with all of us. 5++++++++

Wonderful story, perfect for this Christmas season. Five stars, sand thank you for it. B.T.W. Semper Fi from this old Nam Marine.

Lovely Christmas Story, really enjoyed reading it. It really helped to spark memories of the past some great and special as well as some not so special. Not all of those memories and experiences help to shape the people that we are today through those life lessons and experiences. For me it was through my mom getting pregnant and hiding it from her parents. I found out trying to trace my family through three fathers, through DNA. I had four sisters and two additional brothers who were younger that I were by my DNA father. My father that raised me was my third father who illegally adopted me, the only father I knew about until about age 12. I saw my name in my maternal grandmother’s bible was crossed out. Then at age 21, that same maternal grandmother, asked me if I wanted to see my real father.

Thanks for a great read M - loved the smooth easy style and it really carried me along just like a ride in a Pullman holding my third martini.

A very fortunate soldier indeed. to fund an angel on the train. Thanks to all our servicemen and women in all branches of the service. Remember for every man on the front lines there 5 or 6 back safe supporting them with supplies and ammunition and the most treasured thing...........letters from home. 5 stars

Thank you for a wonderful heartwarming story. It blessed me immensely.

Thank you for the tale of return and of possibilities of a Christmas miracle. Nice pacing and awaiting its sequel ? Union Station in Chicago - oh, some memories will find you, no matter the time or distance- So thank you again.

Outstanding story, so well written and heartwarming ❤️

Storytelling at its best. An excellent introduction to this cast of characters.

Congratulations! Well deserved! :))

A lovely story, Melissa. Merry Christmas.

This was an excellent story.

Thank you.

So many memories of those days. You need to ad a little touch of the smells. The flat metallic taste of used steam folding over the pungent odor of oil and grease. The crisp fresh breath of sheets on the bunk. Her sweetness on the pillow when he awoke.

I enjoyed this lovely, well-written story. (Yes, I could pick a few nits, but I choose not to, unlike someone who did not read and remember the three words before the "extremely awkward sentence".) I look forward to reading more of your works…including a sequel to this story, I hope.

BTW, Chicago Midway Airport reported 1.8 inches of snow on Christmas Eve 1945, and more snow the next two days.