Month: August 2016

Courting in 1915

As a mother of five children—three girls and two boys—I have sent them off in their finest to proms and dances, heard their heartfelt concerns over relationships both good and bad, and given two daughters to fine young men in marriage.

Dating rituals down here in the Florida Panhandle have dramatically changed since my grandmother was courting in 1915. For my grandmother and her friends, courtship came only after the man asked permission of the woman’s family. Once he had the family’s approval, he could court his chosen girl, but they could never be left alone. There was always a chaperone, usually an elderly aunt or family friend who tagged along to keep a close eye so that nothing “went amiss.” The thought was that in this way a man and a woman took the time to get to know each other emotionally and intellectually first before they married.

Annie Laura’s Triumph ends with the fictionalized wedding day of my grandparents. In real life, they, too, courted with a chaperone. Their marriage lasted seventy-one years.

I wonder if we might need to rethink our modern dating rituals?

You can read the fictionalized version of my grandparents’ wedding day in my novel, Annie Laura’s Triumph, published by Mercer University Press. 

 

Do you have a green thumb? I wish I did! My mother, my grandmother, and her mother before her all loved growing beautiful flowers. Who doesn’t love the sunny face of a bright, yellow sunflower? Or the surprise splash of vibrant color in the middle of the median where some wonderful state worker has planted wildflowers?

Nurtured by the almost daily afternoon showers, and the bright Florida sun, flowers are everywhere this time of year. And, in pesticide-free gardens, the bees are nearby, turning the nectar into golden honey.

My grandmother, whose wedding is celebrated in Annie Laura’s Triumph, loved trees and flowers–indeed all growing things. Mama remembers her taking Spanish moss from the woods and throwing it over the massive oaks in her front yard, hoping to achieve “tree lace” of her own.

My mother loved to take pictures of flowers. I remember when I was much younger thinking how silly she was. Now I understand. Flowers are transitory being. My mother wanted to capture beauty—preserve it. It was her way, I think, of holding a sparkle of eternity.

 

I love walking Iris, my 65 lb lab mix, even in the Panama City summertime heat, mainly because I look forward to the swim we take afterwards. I wear shorts, a tank top and Chacos.

My grandmother and great grandmother walked this area, just a couple of miles away, in 1915. They walked because they didn’t have cars, and their horse was used mainly for working the fields.What must it have been like for them, sweltering in this Florida heat in long-sleeved blouses and many layered skirts? How did they manage to survive the heat and humidity without what my little six-year old friend calls “inside air”?

While writing Annie Laura’s Triumph (set in 1915 about the life of my great-grandmother), I learned that there was a revolution of sorts in women’s fashion about that time. Fashion magazines touted a “transition to simplicity.”

What exactly did that mean? Corsets were looser, and skirts were fuller and hemmed above the ankles, “making it easier to move about,” though certainly not any cooler.

Here is a picture of my grandmother and her new baby along with several aunts. This picture was taken in Southport, Florida, 1916. It’s summertime–you can see the corn stalks growing behind them. My grandmother was 16–she wears 3/4 length sleeves, but notice that all of the older women have on long sleeves and long skirts.

I can’t imagine walking down my street in a corset covered by a long-sleeved blouse, a layer of petticoats, and a heavy cotton skirt down to my ankles, no matter how loose the hem might be! I can’t even wear sleeveless maxi dresses in the summer. Way too hot!