I'll Be Seeing You1944

Mrs. Marshall:
You must have been looking forward to it, Mary.

Mary Marshall:
I was looking forward to seeing you, Aunt Sarah.

Mrs. Marshall:
Oh, that's sweet of you, dear.

Mary Marshall:
As a matter of fact, selfish. I've been doing a lot of thinking in the past three years, Aunt Sarah, and...

Mrs. Marshall:
What sort of things were you thinking, Mary?

Mary Marshall:
Coming out into the world and... Even coming here, I had a feeling that ...

Mrs. Marshall:
Honey, you've got to stop being afraid. You've got to stop feeling that you're branded like people were in the old days. You've done something. You're paying your debt to society. Most people are willing to let it go at that.

Mary Marshall:
I know, Aunt Sarah, but coming out into the world and seeing everybody in uniform, everybody doing something... I just don't belong. I don't fit in. And dreams that I've had for the future are just impossible.

Mrs. Marshall:
Well, most dreams are, Mary. It's just the dreaming that counts. Nobody gets exactly what he wants out of life. One of the first things you learn is to make compromises with your dreams.

Mary Marshall:
But I'm not talking about palaces and rainbows, Aunt Sarah. I'm talking about a home. A home like this with a kitchen and a stove and an icebox, and a husband, and a child.

Mrs. Marshall:
Yes, I have all that. Yet I used to dream about palaces and rainbows.

Mary Marshall:
But you're happy.

Mrs. Marshall:
Of course. Because I didn't hold out for too much. I accepted what I thought was second best and made that do. Oh, it's something that everybody learns sooner or later. You have to get used to accepting what you think is second best, and then you find out it's first best after all.