Week 7
Prompt – Valentines
I am a hopeless romantic! I love romantic movies, books and stories. I love listening to couples share how they met, what it was about the other person that made them say “they’re the one”.
In my mind I compare Stephen and I to the main characters in Jane Austen’s Emma. We knew each other for a long time as our parents were friends. When he finally asked me to be his wife I knew I found my Mr. Knightly!
My Grandma Helen Green had suffered heart ache as the man she was engaged to had been killed in the early years of WWII. Not long after that she met my grandfather but it took some time for her to let love in again. They wed June 4, 1949 in Flint, MI. Theirs was a store of unconditional love. As a child seeing my grandfather lovingly care for grandma even when the Alzheimer’s disease took over.
My mother and father met at seminary. She set her cap for him and he was oblivious to it for some time. He was introverted and she was extrovert. About a year after she set out to get him he asked her out on a date. The day before she died she reminisced that he proposed to her with a ring in ice cream. She told me that was why every Sunday night was ice cream night. A tradition that holds a special place in my heart.
Great Grandpa Roy aka Grumpy Dump and GIGI Nina’s love story was a might peculiar. Married June 25, 1912 they were wed for over 11 years only to get a divorced, only to remarry less than a year later in Aug 1924. There is much speculation about why this happened but they lived re-married until Roy died.
One story I would love to uncover is that of William Mckinley “Mannie” Zimmerman (1901-1982) and Lillie Leora Dunbar (1912-2001), my paternal biological grandparents. Mannie was married to Daisy Harper (1902-1940) in 1922. In the 1940 census Lillie was listed as the housekeeper in Mannie and Daisy’s household. Daisy passed away in 1940 and sometime after Mannie married Lillie. All I have are facts but I wish I had the “story”. Was it a love match like Jane Austen’s Mr and Mrs Weston or was it a marriage of convenience?
The majority of individuals have passed away so I will never know their love story. I imagine some were wonderful while others were filled with heart ache, some were easy while others had to work hard for it. As I have gotten holder I realize that not all love stores have to be “perfect” to be happy.
