During
the 1970's, this photograph was taken in my aunt's dining room at my maternal
grandmother's wedding reception. Lovingly known to everyone who knew her
as "Granny," she was photographed here feeding wedding cake to her
very own Prince Charming. This was a second marriage for the bride and the groom, both having been married and widowed, and
while the couple was fast approaching 80, age proved no impediment to true
love. The smile seen that day on Granny's face remained there throughout their
thirteen years of marriage. No one deserved happiness more than these two
did, and they had it in spades!
But
this was not the first time these two were in love. With a relationship
hearkening back to the first part of the twentieth century, Granny was engaged
to this gentleman once before as he proposed to her and she accepted when they
were both very young. Shortly after the engagement was announced, the young
swain moved away to find work, promising to return and marry Granny when he had
made enough money. Unfortunately, he remained
gone a little too long for an anxious young girl, who also happened to be a bit
of a flirt as evidenced by the photograph below. One look at that pose
with the palmetto fan tells us a lot about what we need to know...
 |
| Granny (second from left with her palmetto fan) and Siblings |
Enter
a tall, handsome newcomer and friend of her elder brother's who happened to be
the volunteer who took the snapshot above.
Now, do you see T-R-O-U-B-L-E brewing?
Add
to that the fact that my great grandmother found Granny's fiancee a bit
"fast" as evidenced by the fact that he played the harmonica and knew
all the latest dance steps, and you see clearly where this is headed.
To
say the jilted suitor was crestfallen when Granny threw him over after falling
helplessly in love with and marrying my grandfather is an understatement, but
after some time passed, her former fiancee did find love and was happily
married for many years. Each of the couples had a family of two daughters
and a son, and their paths rarely crossed due to the distance in miles.
The
First World War came and went along with the flappers, the Great Depression,
and World War II. Just as life started to take on some sense of
normality, my grandfather died unexpectedly from a coronary thrombosis
following emergency surgery. My grandmother was only in her forties. Not long
after Granddaddy's death, the suitors began lining up for my grandmother's
hand, but she turned them all down flat. Granny was determined not to compromise
her standards or her heart and refused to marry for anything but love. Instead, she chose to sell
her car and some of her possessions, move into a cottage, and become the
mother, grandmother, and friend not only to her own loved ones, but to the
community at large. Tales of her kindnesses to others were legend. I know
because people were always sharing them with us and still do.
About
thirty-five years after my grandfather died, Granny's former fiancee's wife
died, too. His daughter in law told us that the family did not know what to do
with him. He was so depressed that she would find him moping on her
doorstep at mealtime, much like a little lost puppy. They worried that he would
grieve himself to death. Enter my great uncle who encouraged his old
friend to call Granny. When the former flame finally did contact her,
Granny said the conversation went something like this:
"My
dear, do you think we might pick up where we left off?"
"I
certainly hope not. As I recall you were ready to murder me!"
"Well,
do you think we might pick up before that point?
And
that is exactly what they did when he came calling with flowers, candy, and a
luncheon invitation. He was a snappy dresser, drove a snazzy car,
and had a cute personality. Now, you have to understand that I have
always wanted a grandfather because I never knew either of mine who died before
I was born. To that end, I had even proposed to the gentleman who lived
next door to Granny for her because I thought he was a good candidate.
Fortunately, he just chuckled while she was mortified. So after a few dates
when the former flame proposed AGAIN and I, being both a hopeless romantic and
wanting a grandfather, enthusiastically prodded Granny to accept, she did
just that to everyone's great surprise with one exception. That exception would be yours truly. I like to
think I helped to orchestrate their happiness with my encouragement.
And
they were so happy together. On their honeymoon in New York City, Granny
couldn't contain her joy, announcing to perfect strangers in elevators that she
was a newlywed. This white-haired Mrs. Santa Claus look-alike might have
been pushing eighty, but she was a BRIDE and was going to shout it from the top
of the Empire State Building!
One
of my favorite lines in literature occurs in Jane Eyre when Jane, being
prompted by the man she loves to give him advice on who to marry, tells him to
choose the one who loves him best, to which Mr. Rochester replies "I will at least
choose her I love best. Jane, will you marry me?" This will forever
remind me of my grandparents and their love for each other. They chose, and
they chose wisely, the ones whom they loved best, and they truly did live
happily ever after in the sunset years of their lives. I believe in love
at any age, young or old, and in their case, it came around twice.
Their
deep and abiding love for each other other is one of my favorite things in
life, and I want to share that today at my friend Claudia's blog party, A
Favorite Thing Saturday. You can join us by clicking below:
And
while Granny was anything but blue throughout her marriage, her wedding outfit
was, indeed, blue, a light turquoise to be exact. So I thought I would
share that picture and the accompanying story at my friend Sally's party called
Blue Monday. I haven't done that in a while, and I miss her!
So if you would like to join us or just read along, you can do so by clicking
below on Monday:
Thanks
so much for visiting me. I am still out of our house due to the
construction process, and this past week, we have been on business in
Miami. I will be returning to St. Augustine tomorrow from Central Florida
where we are now, and I will visit as I am able. I have to go to the
library to access the Internet since we no longer have it at the house
there. But I do want to visit and see what is going on with my blog
friends. I hate to miss out. But if I'm a bit sketchy in my responses, you will know why.
Devotedly,
Mrs.
Magpie (Sheila)
P.S.
Seeing the cheese wafers with the pecans on top in that first photo reminds me so much of family parties of yore. Those
treats or cheese straws were always served, and I wish I had my aunt's recipe
for the former which was probably my grandmother's recipe originally. My
mother, my aunt, and my grandmother all had their own specialties, and sometimes they would swap.
At
this wedding reception, there were also chicken salad, pimento cheese, and
cucumber finger sandwiches, salted pecans, mints that melted in your
mouth, coffee frappe, and wedding cake. I can still see it all like it
was yesterday! Other sweets and goodies were on the table as well.
Everything was beautiful with lovely linens and accoutrements, and yet, it was
still simpler than parties today. It makes me think how over the top
weddings have become and how simple seems better because it places the focus on
the bride and groom. So many weddings today seem to be about all the bells and
whistles that cost as much as a new car and sometimes a new house! And
there are times that the marriage doesn't seem to last long enough for the ink to dry on
the wedding license. I wish we'd see a trend back in the other direction where the
real focus is on the couple's commitment to each other and not their commitment
to the event itself. How about you? What do you think?
