Love Letters - Glimpses of the Heart
by Heather Long | More from this Blogger
Love letters reveal a great deal about how you feel or how someone else feels. The love letter is a romantic device in films, books and reality. Love letters are an enduring part of our history and our culture. So I thought we'd take a moment today and enjoy some glimpses of love letters from the past.
Sullivan Ballou served in the Union Army and he wrote this letter to his wife Sarah shortly before he died at the First Battle of Manassas during the Civil War. The letter was never mailed, but it was recovered and later given to her. Viewers of Ken Burn's Civil War documentary may remember this beautiful letter.
Excerpt: I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death -- and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee.
I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles have often advocated before the people and "the name of honor that I love more than I fear death" have called upon me, and I have obeyed.
Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon was King Henry VIII first wife and mother to Queen Mary. Though Henry divorced here in 1533, Catherine remained devoted to him until her death in 1538. She wrote this letter prior to her death.
My Lord and Dear Husband,
I commend me unto you. The hour of my death draweth fast on, and my case being such, the tender love I owe you forceth me, with a few words, to put you in remembrance of the health and safeguard of your soul, which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the care and tendering of your own body, for the which you have cast me into many miseries and yourself into many cares.
For my part I do pardon you all, yea, I do wish and devoutly pray God that He will also pardon you.
For the rest I commend unto you Mary, our daughter, beseeching you to be a good father unto her, as I heretofore desired. I entreat you also, on behalf of my maids, to give them marriage-portions, which is not much, they being but three. For all my other servants, I solicit a year's pay more than their due, lest they should be unprovided for.
Lastly, do I vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things.
I suppose these letters are sad, the last loving thoughts of those destined to die soon, yet the love is palpable in both and a reminder that love endures if only as letters on paper.
2008/09/18
Prince Charles and Princess Diana
06 May 2006 06:03 AM
Charles & Diana: A Love Story?
by Heather Long | More from this Blogger
We've been talking about marriage and wedding planning here at the Marriage blog this month and I don't think any wedding planning would be complete without talking about some of the great weddings of the last century. And I do mean the last century, not the current one. When I think of the great weddings of the last century, one of the first weddings to come to mind is that of Charles, Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer. I was just nine years old when they were married in the summer of 1981. I remember my mother waking me up at a little after 3 in the morning to come downstairs because they were going to air the wedding on television.
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My grandmother, my mother and I all settled onto the sofa in our living room. There were reporters, there were cameras everywhere and London itself seemed to be decked out in festival. There were hundreds and thousands of people thronging the streets between the Palace and St. Paul's Cathedral. We saw the chain of coaches as they left the palace carrying the royal family to witness the long-expected nuptials.
Lady Diana Spencer, herself, appeared as a vision in her flowing white gown with its mile long train. She arrived in a glass sealed coach and who did not see Cinderella? Can it really have been twenty-five years ago that the world was invited to witness the ceremony?
The couple were married at St Paul's Cathedral before an invited congregation of 3,500 and an estimated global TV audience of 750 million.
No matter what your personal thoughts are on the Royal Family, the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer was an experience that colored my childhood. They were a fairy tale brought to life and the fairy tale continued in the love affair the public had with the newly crowned Princess Diana. Her death in 1997 left me mourning as though I'd truly known her. That acquaintance began with her engagement to the Prince, culminated in a wedding and continued through numerous photographs, stories and more.
In ways, I feel like we are diminished still by her loss and yet, when I remember the wedding - not even the knowledge that the fairy tale crashed and burned can diminish the feeling of hope and love the ceremony was imbued with. I think every wedding should leave you feeling that way --- an experience that can still take your breath away twenty-five years later.
The love story of Salim and Anarkali is a story that every lover knows. The Mughal prince Salim falling for a courtesan Anarkali is the stuff that legends are made of. The relationship of Salim and Anarkali outraged the Mughal emperor Akbar so much that both father and son decided to go on war.
According to legend, Salim, the son of the great Mughal emperor Akbar, fell in love with a beautiful courtesan named Anarkali as a young prince. Anarkali, whose title means "pomegranate blossom" (a title bestowed for her beauty) was famed for her dancing skills as well as her great beauty. It is believed that her original name was Nadira or Sharf-un-Nisa.He was mesmerized by her beauty and fell in love as soon as he saw her. But Anarkali was a
mere dancing girl, and dancing girls were not of noble birth. They were considered to be low-born and keeping any relation with them were looed dow and strictly prohibited by the society. Anarkali knew that their romance was forbidden in the eyes of the prince's father, Mughal Emperor Akbar. So she tried to keep away from Salim. But how could she hold herself back from the prince's charms for long? Love knows no rules, and soon Anarkali too was deeply in love with Salim.
But such an intense love can't be concealed forever. The emperor could not digest the fact that his son was in love with an ordinary courtesan. He started pressurizing Anarkali and devised all sorts of tactics to make her fall in the eyes of the young, love smitten prince. When Salim came to know of this, he declared a war against his own father. But the mighty emperor's gigantic army proves too much for the young prince to handle. He gets defeated and is sentenced to death.
This is when Anarkali intervenes and renounces her love to save her beloved from the jaws of death. She is entombed alive in a brick wall right in front of her lover's eyes. It is, however, said that she did not die. The tomb was constructed on the opening of a secret tunnel unknown to Salim. It is said she escaped through that tunnel and fled the place, never to return again. The heartbroken Salim lives on to become emperor Jahangir.
But he could never forget his one true love Anarkali, in his lifetime. When he died, her name was on his lips.
Thus ends the tragic love story of Salim and Anarkali. Even today, these two lovers are remembered by people and held in esteem by lovers all over; such exemplary their love was.
Love is known to be an overwhelming, all-consuming, intense passion. But just how intense can love be? No one knows the answer, and examples of such a love are rare. But whenever one talks about the depth of love, the intensity of passion, two names almost immediately come to mind- Laila and Majnu.
The love story of Laila and Majnu is a very famous one and is no less than a legend. Even today, people know them as Laila Majnu; the "and" in between is missing. They were two in flesh, but one in spirit. It is based on the real story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mullawah from the northern Arabian Peninsula, in the Umayyad era during the 7th century. The love story of "Laila and Majnu" is an eternal one albeit a tragic one.
Laila was a beautiful girl born in a rich family. Being no less than a princess, she was expected to marry a wealthy boy and live in grandeur and splendor. But love is born from the heart; it knows no rules. Laila fell in love with Qays and he too loved her dearly. Qays was a poet and belonged to the same tribe as Laila. He composed splendid love poems and dedicated them to his lady-love, telling in them his love for her and mentioning her name often. Qays' friends knew about his affair with Laila and they often teased and made fun of his love. But such taunts had no effect on Qays. He was deeply in love with Laila and it was her thoughts alone that possesed his mind for all time.
It had been for quite sometime that Qays toyed with the idea of seeking Laila's hand in marriage from her parents. One day, he went up to them and put the big question before them.
But Qays was a poor lad. And when he asked for Laila's hand in marriage, her father promptly refused him as he didn't want her daughter to marry below her status. It would mean a scandal for Laila according to Arab traditions.
As fate would have it, the two lovers were banished from seeing each other. Soon after, Laila's parents married her off to a wealthy man and she went on to live in a big mansion.
When Qays heard of her marriage he was heartbroken. He fled the tribe camp and wandered in the surrounding desert. His family eventually gave up on his return and left food for him in the wilderrness. He could sometimes be seen reciting poetry to himself or writing Laila's name in the sand with a stick. Day and night, he pined for her.
Laila was no better. Seperated from Qays, she was shattered in mind, body and spirit. Not long afterwards, in 688 AD, she moved to Iraq with her husband, where she fell ill and died eventually.
When Qays' friends came to know about Laila's death, they went looking for him all over to give him the news. But they could not find him.
Not much later, , their search for him came to an end. Qays was found dead in the wilderness near Laila's grave. On a rock near the grave, he had carved three verses of poetry, which are the last three verses ascribed to him.
Qays went mad for his love; for this reason he came to be called "Majnu", or "Majnun Layla", which means "Driven mad by Layla".
Such a love is hard to find today. So if ever you love someone, try to love like these two did. Even today, lovers swear by their name. It is their love affair that has made Laila and Majnu immortal in the accounts of great love stories.
The Radha-Krishna amour is a love legend of all times. It's indeed hard to miss the many legends and paintings illustrating the Radha-Krishna affair is the most memorable. Krishna's relationship with Radha, his favorite among the 'gopis' (cow-herding maidens), has served as a model for male and female love in a variety of art forms, and since the sixteenth century appears prominently as a motif in North Indian paintings. The allegorical love of Radha has found expression in some great Bengali poetical works of Govinda Das, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, and Jayadeva the author of Geet Govinda.
Krishna's youthful dalliances with the 'gopis' are interpreted as symbolic of the loving interplay between God and the human soul. Radha's utterly rapturous love for Krishna and their relationship is often interpreted as the quest for union with the divine. This kind of love is of the highest form of devotion in Vaishnavism, and is symbolically represented as the bond between the wife and husband or beloved and lover.
Radha, daughter of Vrishabhanu, was Krishna's lover during that period of his life when he lived among the cowherds of Vrindavan. Since childhood they were close to each other - they played, they danced, they fought, they grew up together and wanted to be together forever, but the world pulled them apart. He departed to safeguard the virtues of truth, and she waited for him. He vanquished his enemies, became the king, and came to be worshipped as a lord of the universe. She waited for him. He married Rukmini and Satyabhama, raised a family, fought the great war of Ayodhya, and she still waited. So great was Radha's love for Krishna that even today her name is uttered whenever Krishna is refered to, and Krishna worship is though to be incomplete without the deification of Radha.
One day the two most talked about lovers come together for a final single meeting. Suradasa in his Radha-Krishna lyrics relates the various amorous delights of the union of Radha and Krishna in this ceremonious 'Gandharva' form of their wedding in front of five hundred and sixty million people of Vraj and all the gods and goddesses of heaven. The sage Vyasa refers to this as the 'Rasa'. Age after age, this evergreen love theme has engrossed poets, painters, musicians and all Krishna devotees alike.
Classic Love Stories
Perhaps no other faith glorifies the notion of love as Hinduism. This is evident from the amazing variety of mythical love stories that abounds Sanskrit literature, which is undoubtedly one of the richest treasure hoards of exciting love tales.
Classical love legends from Hindu mythology and folklore of India are both passionate and sensuous in content, and never fail to appeal to the romantic in us. These fables stretches our imagination, engage our emotions and, entertain us.
Perhaps no other faith glorifies the notion of love as Hinduism. This is evident from the amazing variety of mythical love stories that abounds Sanskrit literature, which is undoubtedly one of the richest treasure hoards of exciting love tales.
Classical love legends from Hindu mythology and folklore of India are both passionate and sensuous in content, and never fail to appeal to the romantic in us. These fables stretches our imagination, engage our emotions and, entertain us.
Valentines Day is celebrated all over the world on 14th February. This day is associated with love. And when we are talking about love, how can we afford to forget about two of the greatest lovers- Pocahontas and John Smith.
Pocahontas , an Indian Princess was the daughter of Powhatan. 'Pocahontas' was a childhood nickname referring to her frolicsome nature; in the Powhatan language it meant "little wanton". Her father Powhatan was the powerful chief of the Algonquian Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia.
It was in April/May 1607 when the English colonists arrived in Virginia and began building settlements. It was then that Pocahontas for the first time in her life saw Englishmen. Among them all, she found John Smith, one of the leading colonists, most attractive and developed a liking for him. The first meeting of Pocahontas and John Smith is a legendary story. It is believed that John Smith was leading an expedition in December 1607 when a group of Powhatan hunters took him captive and brought him to Werowocomoco, one of the chief villages of the Powhatan Empire. Smith was taken to the official residence of Powhattan and he was tortured. It was Pocahontas who saved his life from the attack of the Indians. Smith was laid across a stone and was about to be executed, when Pocahontas threw herself across his body. Pocahontas then helped Smith to stand on his feet and Powhattan adopted Smith as his son. This incident helped Pocahontas and Smith to become friends with each other.
Pocahontas, after this incident, made frequent visits to the Jamestown and passed on to the Englishmen messages of her father.
In 1608, Pocahontas is said to have saved Smith a second time. Smith and some other colonists were invited to Werowocomoco by Chief Powhatan on friendly terms, but Pocahontas came to the hut where the English were staying and warned them that Powhatan was planning to kill them. Due to this warning, the English stayed on their guard, and the attack never came.
In October 1609, after getting badly injured due to gunpowder explosion, John Smith returned to England. When Pocahontas made a visit to the fort, she was informed that Smith was dead.
In March 1613, an Englishman, Captain Samuel Argall kidnapped Pocahontas and informed Powhatan that he would not release her, until Powhatan released the English prisoners along with various weapons and tools that he had confiscated earlier. Argall, arrived in Jamestown in April 1613.
In December 1613 Captain Argall sailed up the Potomac River to a far Indian village to trade Pocahontas with the Indians. He traded a copper kettle for Pocahontas. The colonists hoped that Powhatan would trade the Indian prisoners and the guns he had taken for Pocahontas. Powhatan sent back many prisoners and promised friendship and corn, but he did not send back the guns. Captain Argall felt that by not sending the guns, Powhatan had sent only a part of the ransom. He did not send Pocahontas back to her father because of this.
Even though she was held hostage, Pocahontas was free to go from house to house. Pocahontas settled down in Henricus. She was given a warm room, pretty clothes, and food to eat. It is here that Pocahontas fell in love with John Rolfe, an Englishman. In April they were married. Pocahontas converted to Christianity. She went by the name of Rebecca Rolfe, living an English life.
For the next eight years the white men and the Indians were at peace. Pocahontas and John were very happy. They had a baby and named him Thomas. Rolfe invented new ways of planting and curing tobacco. He planned to send the tobacco to the Old World. In 1616 John and Pocahontas sailed to England to talk to King James about the sale of tobacco in England.
In early 1617, Pocahontas made a visit to London, where he met his friend John Smith after eight long years and was shocked to see him alive. She is said to have been greatly grieved at not being able to marry her first love. It was their last meeting.
It is said that overcome by emotion and recollections, while on a return voyage to Virginia, she died of a broken heart shortly afterwards in March on board.
The story of Pygmalion and Galatea is found in Greek Mythology, and in the famous work "Metamorphoses", by the great Roman poet Ovid. Their love was so unique that it is difficult to define it. But from this legendary love story, one thing is clear, man can never love an inanimate object with as much passion as he loves a living, breathing being. Love gives rise to desire and without this passion any love remains unfulfilled.
Pygmalion was a master sculptor in the ancient city of Greece. All day he sculpted beautiful statues from huge pieces of rock. In fact, his creations were so wonderful that whoever saw them were mesmerised by their sheer artistic beauty and exact finish. Pygmalion himself was a fine and handsome young man. He was liked by all men and women. Many women loved him for his great skill and looks.
But Pygmalion never paid attention to any of these women. He saw so much to blame in women that he came at last to abhor the sex, and resolved to live unmarried. He was a sculptor, and with his with wonderful skill he sculpted a beautiful ivory statue which was so lifelike that it was difficult to believe that it was lifeless at the first glance. The beauty was such that no living woman could compete with it. It was indeed the perfect semblance of a maiden that seemed to be alive, and only prevented from moving by modesty. His art was so perfect that it concealed itself and its product looked like the workmanship of nature. Pygmalion spent hours admiring his creation.
By and by Pygmalion's admiration for his own sculpture turned to love. Oftentimes he laid his hand upon it as if to assure himself whether it were living or not, and could not, even then, believe that it was only ivory. He caressed it, and gave it such presents as young girls love - bright shells and polished stones, little birds and flowers of various hues, beads and amber. He adorned his ivory maiden with jewels. He put rainment on its limbs, and jewels on its fingers, and a necklace about its neck. To the ears he hung earrings and strings of pearls upon the breast. Her dress became her, and she looked not less charming than when unattired. He laid her on a couch spread with cloths of Tyrian dye, and called her his wife, and put her head upon a pillow of the softest feathers, as if she could enjoy their softness. He gave the statue a name: "Galatea", meaning "sleeping love'.
But what will be the consequence of falling in love with a lifeless ivory maiden?
The festival of Aphrodite was at hand - a festival celebrated with great pomp at Cyprus. Victims were offered, the altars smoked, and the odor of incense filled the air. When the festivities of Aphrodite started, Pygmalion took part in the ceremonies. He went to the temple of Aphrodite to ask forgiveness for all the years he had shunned her.
When Pygmalion had performed his part in the solemnities, he hesitantly prayed for a wife like his ivory virgin statue. He stood before the altar of Aphrodite and timidly said, "Ye gods, who can do all things, give me, I pray you, for my wife" - he dared not utter "my ivory virgin," but said instead - "one like my ivory virgin."
But Goddess Aphrodite understood what the poor man was trying to say. She was curious. How can a man love a lifeless thing so much? Was it so beautiful that Pygmalion fell in love with his own creation? So she visited the studio of the sculptor while he was away.
What she saw greatly amazed her. For the sculpture had a perfect likeness to her. In fact, it would not have been wrong to say that the sculpture was an image of Aphrodite herself.
Goddess Aphrodite was charmed by Pygmalion's creation. She brought the statue to life.
When Pygmalion returned to his home, he went before Galatea and knelt down before the woman of his dreams. He looked at her lovingly, with a lover's ardour. It seemed to him that Galatea was looking at her lovingly too.
For a moment, it seemed to Pygmalion that it was just a figment of his imagination. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. But no. There was no mistake this time. Galatea was smiling at him.
He laid his hand upon the limbs; the ivory felt soft to his touch and yielded to his fingers like the wax of Hymettus. It seemed to be warm. He stood up; his mind oscillated between doubt and joy. Fearing he may be mistaken, again and again with a lover's ardor he touches the object of his hopes. It was indeed alive! The veins when pressed yielded to the finger and again resumed their roundness. Slowly it dawned on Pygmalion that the animation of his sculpture was the result of his prayer to Goddess Aphrodite who knew his desire. At last, the votary of Aphrodite found words to thank the goddess. Pygmalion humbled himself at the Goddess' feet.
Soon Pygmalion and Galatea were wed, and Pygmalion never forgot to thank Aphrodite for the gift she had given him. Aphrodite blessed the nuptials she had formed, and this union between Pygmalion and Galatea produced a son named Paphos, from whom the city Paphos, sacred to Aphrodite, received its name. He and Galatea brought gifts to her temple throughout their life and Aphrodite blessed them with happiness and love in return.
The unusual love that blossomed between Pygmalion and Galatea enthralls all. Falling in love with one's creation and then getting the desired object as wife- perhaps this was destined for Pygmalion. Even to this day, countless people and young lovers are mesmerized by this exceptional love that existed between two persons at a time when civilization was in its infancy.
A very touching love story that is sure to move anyone who reads it is that of Pyramus and Thisbe. Theirs was a selfless love and they made sure that even in death, they were together. The tale has its origins in the Roman Mythology. It is best recounted by Ovid and the passion of love that blossomed between the two young lovers enthralls readers even today.
Pyramus was the most handsome man and was a childhood friend of Thisbe, the fairest maiden in Babylonia. Pyramus and Thisbe were neighbors. They both lived in neighboring homes and fell in love with each other as they grew up together. However, their parents were dead against them marrying each other. Their parents were totally against their union, leaving the young lovers with no option but burn the light of love brightly in their hearts and meet surreptitiously if they can. Over the years, the lovers could only talk through a hole in their wall because their parents refused them to see each other.
Finally, Pyramus got fed up with his parents and so did Thisbe. One day while whispering through a crack in the wall, they decided to meet the next night under a mulberry tree near tomb of Ninus. They decided to elope then.
So, the next night, just before the crack of dawn, while everyone was asleep, they decided to slip out of their homes and meet in the nearby fields near a mulberry tree. Thisbe reached there first, covered with a cloak. As she waited under the tree, she saw a lioness coming near the spring close by to quench its thirst. Its jaws were bloody, from a previous kill that day. When Thisbe saw this horrifying sight, she panicked and ran to hide in some hollow rocks nearby. As she was running, she dropped her cloak.
The lion, on hearing the shriek, came near the tree where Thisbe was initially waiting. The creature picked up the cloak in its bloody jaws. Then it tattered the cloak with its blood-stained mouth, leaves it on the ground and goes away.
Soon after, Pyramus arrived at the appointed spot and saw Thisbe's cloak, his love gift to her, covered in blood and torn to pieces with the footprints of the lioness left behind. He immediately thought that his only love had been killed by a hungry lion. He is completely devastated. He thought that the lion had just hunted down Thisbe and blamed himself to be the cause of her death. Had he not been late, could the lion have killed Thisbe? Shattered, he prepared to kill himself. Without any haste, he unsheathed his sword (her love gift to him), letting the cold, hard steel pierce his broken heart. He pierced his chest with his own sword.
Meanwhile, unknown to what just happened, Thisbe was still hiding in the rocks due to the fear of the lion. When she came out from her hiding place after sometime and came under the mulberry tree once more, she saw the body of a man writhing in pain. Thisbe, bringing courage to her heart, ran towards the man and was shocked when he found her only love lying on the ground next to the blood-covered Mulberry bush with his own sword impaling his chest.
She gasped in horror as she asked the still breathing Pyramus what happened. Barely able to stay awake, he told her what happened and she cried out in sorrow. Pyramus died soon after leaving Thisbe totally shattered.
"What would I do in this world without my Pyramus?" thought the grief-stricken Thisbe. She resolves to finish herself too.
She brought out from Pyramus' chest his blood-stained sword. Then she said to the dead Pyramus:
"Wait for me my love. I'm coming to you."
Then she brought the blade into her own soft flesh. Thus they died together, in love and peace.
It is said that this is the reason why the berries on the Mulberry bush are red, instead of their original white, in commemoration of the two young lovers and their great sacrifice.
The love story of Pyramus and Thisbe continues to inspire lovers all around the world. The love between the two remain one of the purest and truest ever seen in this world.
Classic Love Stories
Love they say is one of the most beautiful feelings. It is an essential part of life, whether ancient or modern- it is never out of season. Here in this section we revisit the notion of love through these immortal love stories from Greek and Hindu mythology and folklore of India that are passionate in content, and never fail to appeal to the romantic in us! They are popular all over the world. Read the stories to realize the importance of romance in the spirit of love!
Love they say is one of the most beautiful feelings. It is an essential part of life, whether ancient or modern- it is never out of season. Here in this section we revisit the notion of love through these immortal love stories from Greek and Hindu mythology and folklore of India that are passionate in content, and never fail to appeal to the romantic in us! They are popular all over the world. Read the stories to realize the importance of romance in the spirit of love!
History Of Valentine's Day
Learn about how Valentines day came into practice as it is today. The origin of this lovers day goes back to as early as 270 A.D from when the history of this day begins. Just read on and discover the true meaning of this festival.
As early as the fourth century B.C., the Romans engaged in an annual young man's rite to passage to the God Lupercus. The names of the teenage women were placed in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men; thus, a man was assigned a woman companion for the duration of the year, after which another lottery was staged. After eight hundred years of this cruel practice, the early church fathers sought to end this practice... They found an answer in Valentine, a bishop who had been martyred some two hundred years earlier.
According to church tradition St. Valentine was a priest near Rome in about the year 270 A.D. At that time the Roman Emperor Claudius-II who had issued an edict forbidding marriage.
This was around when the heyday of Roman empire had almost come to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil strife. Learning declined, taxation increased, and trade slumped to a low, precarious level. And the Gauls, Slavs, Huns, Turks and Mongolians from Northern Europe and Asian increased their pressure on the empire's boundaries. The empire was grown too large to be shielded from external aggression and internal chaos with existing forces. Thus more of capable men were required to be recruited as soldiers and officers. When Claudius became the emperor, he felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their families, and thus, will not make good soldiers. So to assure quality soldiers, he banned marriage.
Valentine, a bishop , seeing the trauma of young lovers, met them in a secret place, and joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested. The emperor, impressed with the young priest's dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the roman gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully.
On February 24, 270, Valentine was executed.
"From your Valentine"
While Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he came in contact with his jailor, Asterius. The jailor had a blind daughter. Asterius requested him to heal his daughter. Through his faith he miraculously restored the sight of Asterius' daughter. Just before his execution, he asked for a pen and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after.
Valentine thus become a Patron Saint, and spiritual overseer of an annual festival. The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The greeting cards acquired St.Valentine's name.
The Valentine's Day card spread with Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum.
As early as the fourth century B.C., the Romans engaged in an annual young man's rite to passage to the God Lupercus. The names of the teenage women were placed in a box and drawn at random by adolescent men; thus, a man was assigned a woman companion for the duration of the year, after which another lottery was staged. After eight hundred years of this cruel practice, the early church fathers sought to end this practice... They found an answer in Valentine, a bishop who had been martyred some two hundred years earlier.
According to church tradition St. Valentine was a priest near Rome in about the year 270 A.D. At that time the Roman Emperor Claudius-II who had issued an edict forbidding marriage.
This was around when the heyday of Roman empire had almost come to an end. Lack of quality administrators led to frequent civil strife. Learning declined, taxation increased, and trade slumped to a low, precarious level. And the Gauls, Slavs, Huns, Turks and Mongolians from Northern Europe and Asian increased their pressure on the empire's boundaries. The empire was grown too large to be shielded from external aggression and internal chaos with existing forces. Thus more of capable men were required to be recruited as soldiers and officers. When Claudius became the emperor, he felt that married men were more emotionally attached to their families, and thus, will not make good soldiers. So to assure quality soldiers, he banned marriage.
Valentine, a bishop , seeing the trauma of young lovers, met them in a secret place, and joined them in the sacrament of matrimony. Claudius learned of this "friend of lovers," and had him arrested. The emperor, impressed with the young priest's dignity and conviction, attempted to convert him to the roman gods, to save him from certain execution. Valentine refused to recognize Roman Gods and even attempted to convert the emperor, knowing the consequences fully.
On February 24, 270, Valentine was executed.
"From your Valentine"
While Valentine was in prison awaiting his fate, he came in contact with his jailor, Asterius. The jailor had a blind daughter. Asterius requested him to heal his daughter. Through his faith he miraculously restored the sight of Asterius' daughter. Just before his execution, he asked for a pen and paper from his jailor, and signed a farewell message to her "From Your Valentine," a phrase that lived ever after.
Valentine thus become a Patron Saint, and spiritual overseer of an annual festival. The festival involved young Romans offering women they admired, and wished to court, handwritten greetings of affection on February 14. The greeting cards acquired St.Valentine's name.
The Valentine's Day card spread with Christianity, and is now celebrated all over the world. One of the earliest card was sent in 1415 by Charles, duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was a prisoner in the Tower of London. The card is now preserved in the British Museum.
Symbol of Love
There are many symbols that are attached with Valentine's day and with expression of love. TheHolidaySpot aims to show a glimpse of these varied symbols that have been used over a long period of time, and across continents. Starting from the ubiquitous heart sign, to the less popular rebus, we have tried to mention it all with a small description of each. We hope that it would be to your liking. Please feel free to forward this page to your friends and loved ones, and please send your comments, suggestions and feedback.
Heart
It was formerly believed that the heart was the seat of all human emotions. Accordingly, the gifting of a heart signified the selfless act of giving everything to someone you love. Though the ancients were not aware that the heart was responsible for pumping blood though the circulatory system, yet they knew one thing for sure that the heart was the center of all feelings. This ancient belief has lingered on through the ages.
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Ribbons, Laces and Frills
Ribbons and laces have been associated with love and romance since the days when a knight used to ride into a battle sporting the scarf or handkerchief presented to him by his ladylove. In the bygone times, laces were used making women's handkerchiefs. It was also usual for a lady to drop her handkerchief in the path of the man whose attention she wished to draw.
Cupid
The love and attraction that a man and a lady feels for one another is traditionally ascribed to the mythological god,Cupid.In Latin, the word Cupid means "desire." Cupid is represented as a naked, chubby boy with wings and possessing a mischievous smile. He carries a bow with a quiver of arrows which he uses to transfix the hearts of youths and maidens. Click here to know more on Cupid.
The Rose
From time immemorial, beloveds have been compared to roses. If we juggle the letters of the word ROSE we get EROS, who is the God of Love. Rose has thus been the traditional choice of lovers around the world. The colour red is associated with strong emotions and below are listed sentiments expressed by different hues of rose:-
Lavender -- Enchantment and Uniqueness
Orange -- Fascination
Pink (Dark) -- Thankfulness, Friendship and Admiration
Red -- Love, Respect and Courage
Peach -- Modesty, Gratitude, Admiration and Sympathy
Pink (Pale) -- Grace, Joy and Happiness
Deep Red -- Beauty and Passion
White -- Innocence, Purity, Secrecy, Silence, Reverence, Humility and (according to some sources) True Love
Yellow -- Joy, Friendship, Jealousy, Hope and Freedom
Black -- Farewell
Red/White -- Unity or Engagement
Yellow/Orange -- Passionate Thoughts
Peach -- Modesty, Gratitude, Admiration and Sympathy
Pink (Pale) -- Grace, Joy and Happiness
Yellow/Red -- Congratulations
Rosebud -- Beauty, Youth and a Heart Innocent of Love
Red Rosebud -- Purity and Loveliness
White Rosebud -- Girlhood
One Dozen Red Roses -- "I Love You"
Single Red Rose in Full Bloom -- "I Love You"
Tea Roses -- "I'll Remember Always"
Hands
The hands of a lady has been a favorite decoration for Valentine's Day for many years and is suppose to depict "femininity". To add to its beauty, the hand is often decorated with frilly cuff and a jeweled ring on the third finger. A lady's hands was a favorite decoration that depicted "femininity." Its beauty was enhanced by adding a frilly cuff and a jeweled ring on the third finger. Clasped hands are said to represent those of Queen Victoria and her consort, Prince Albert...the symbol of friendship between their respective countries of England and Germany.
Doves and Love Birds
It was the popular belief that birds chose their mate for the year on February 14.Since doves and pigeons mate for life ,they symbolize loyalty, fidelity and love. Lovebirds, the small birds with colorful plumage, commonly found in Africa, are so called because they tend to get cozy with each other and can't survive without each other. pairs. Doves...common urban birds, shy and gentle by nature, with a distinctive "cooing" call...symbolize loyalty, fidelity and love .
Puzzik
A Puzzik is a quaint sort of homemade valentine which was a sort of puzzle that the receiver had to solve. Not only did she have to decipher the message but also to figure how to refold the paper once it was opened. The order of the verses was usually numbered, and the recipient had to twist the folds to determine what was being said.
Rebus
Although it had many forms, a rebus usually was a romantic verse written in ink with certain words omitted and illustrated with a picture. Meant to be a riddle, they were not always easy to decipher.
Love knots
They are made of ribbons and are traditional symbols of interminable and everlasting love.
Heart
It was formerly believed that the heart was the seat of all human emotions. Accordingly, the gifting of a heart signified the selfless act of giving everything to someone you love. Though the ancients were not aware that the heart was responsible for pumping blood though the circulatory system, yet they knew one thing for sure that the heart was the center of all feelings. This ancient belief has lingered on through the ages.
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Link to us!
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Ribbons, Laces and Frills
Ribbons and laces have been associated with love and romance since the days when a knight used to ride into a battle sporting the scarf or handkerchief presented to him by his ladylove. In the bygone times, laces were used making women's handkerchiefs. It was also usual for a lady to drop her handkerchief in the path of the man whose attention she wished to draw.
Cupid
The love and attraction that a man and a lady feels for one another is traditionally ascribed to the mythological god,Cupid.In Latin, the word Cupid means "desire." Cupid is represented as a naked, chubby boy with wings and possessing a mischievous smile. He carries a bow with a quiver of arrows which he uses to transfix the hearts of youths and maidens. Click here to know more on Cupid.
The Rose
From time immemorial, beloveds have been compared to roses. If we juggle the letters of the word ROSE we get EROS, who is the God of Love. Rose has thus been the traditional choice of lovers around the world. The colour red is associated with strong emotions and below are listed sentiments expressed by different hues of rose:-
Lavender -- Enchantment and Uniqueness
Orange -- Fascination
Pink (Dark) -- Thankfulness, Friendship and Admiration
Red -- Love, Respect and Courage
Peach -- Modesty, Gratitude, Admiration and Sympathy
Pink (Pale) -- Grace, Joy and Happiness
Deep Red -- Beauty and Passion
White -- Innocence, Purity, Secrecy, Silence, Reverence, Humility and (according to some sources) True Love
Yellow -- Joy, Friendship, Jealousy, Hope and Freedom
Black -- Farewell
Red/White -- Unity or Engagement
Yellow/Orange -- Passionate Thoughts
Peach -- Modesty, Gratitude, Admiration and Sympathy
Pink (Pale) -- Grace, Joy and Happiness
Yellow/Red -- Congratulations
Rosebud -- Beauty, Youth and a Heart Innocent of Love
Red Rosebud -- Purity and Loveliness
White Rosebud -- Girlhood
One Dozen Red Roses -- "I Love You"
Single Red Rose in Full Bloom -- "I Love You"
Tea Roses -- "I'll Remember Always"
Hands
The hands of a lady has been a favorite decoration for Valentine's Day for many years and is suppose to depict "femininity". To add to its beauty, the hand is often decorated with frilly cuff and a jeweled ring on the third finger. A lady's hands was a favorite decoration that depicted "femininity." Its beauty was enhanced by adding a frilly cuff and a jeweled ring on the third finger. Clasped hands are said to represent those of Queen Victoria and her consort, Prince Albert...the symbol of friendship between their respective countries of England and Germany.
Doves and Love Birds
It was the popular belief that birds chose their mate for the year on February 14.Since doves and pigeons mate for life ,they symbolize loyalty, fidelity and love. Lovebirds, the small birds with colorful plumage, commonly found in Africa, are so called because they tend to get cozy with each other and can't survive without each other. pairs. Doves...common urban birds, shy and gentle by nature, with a distinctive "cooing" call...symbolize loyalty, fidelity and love .
Puzzik
A Puzzik is a quaint sort of homemade valentine which was a sort of puzzle that the receiver had to solve. Not only did she have to decipher the message but also to figure how to refold the paper once it was opened. The order of the verses was usually numbered, and the recipient had to twist the folds to determine what was being said.
Rebus
Although it had many forms, a rebus usually was a romantic verse written in ink with certain words omitted and illustrated with a picture. Meant to be a riddle, they were not always easy to decipher.
Love knots
They are made of ribbons and are traditional symbols of interminable and everlasting love.
The last Pharaoh of Egypt and the dashing Roman general
One of the most famous love stories by William Shakespeare, the love story of Antony and Cleopatra is a true test of love. Read on to know about the famous Anthony & Cleopatra love affair.
Some love stories are immortal. And the true love story of Antony and Cleopatra is one of the most memorable, intriguing and moving of all times. The true story of these two historical characters had later been dramatized by the maestro William Shakespeare and is still staged all over the world. The relationship of Antony and Cleopatra is a true test of love.
One of the most famous women in history, Cleopatra VII was the brilliant and beautiful last Pharaoh of Egypt. The woman was legendary, not only for her breathtaking beauty but also for her great intellect. She was proficient in nine languages and was also a skilled mathematician. She is often considered to be a stunning seductress though she was studying to be a nun. She became the mistress of the famous emperor Julius Caesar. After he was slain, she was accused of having been a party to Ceaser's assassination, for there was a rumor in Rome that Cleopatra had given help to Cassius, one of the assassins of Caesar.
Matters came to such a head that Caesar's successor and best friend Mark Anthony, the present emperor of Rome, summoned Cleopatra to explain herself at his headquarters in Anatolia. In the spring of the year 41 BC. she crossed the Mediterranean to see him.
But as she saw Marc Antony, she fell in love with him, and he with her, almost instantly. Sometime later the emperor accepted her invitation to visit her in Egypt and arrived in Alexandria in time to spend a winter of pleasure.
The relationship between these two powerful people put the country of Egypt in a powerful position. But their love affair outraged the Romans who were wary of the growing powers of the Egyptians. Despite all the threats, Anthony and Cleopatra got married at Antioch(in Syria) in 36 BC.
Together, Antony and Cleopatra, formed a formidable ruling power. They were now openly together; and openly a team against Octavian, Antony's rival for power in Rome. As a Roman general, with a powerful army in the eastern provinces, Antony gave his new wife a spectacular wedding present - much of the Middle East. In 34 BC, he declared Cleopatra to be the Queen of Kings and Caesarion the King of Kings, jointly ruling over Egypt and Cyprus and joint overlords of the kingdoms of the other children.
In the tradition of many eastern monarchies, Cleopatra and Antony now began presenting themselves as divine. To Greeks they appeared as Dionysus and Aphrodite; to Egyptians as Osiris and Isis.
But Octavian, Antony's rival in power, had had enough of it. He was a blood-relative of Ceaser. how could he bear to see Antony taking his uncle's place? In 31 BC, he declared a war against Antony. The battle between the forces of Octavian and of Antony and Cleopatra took place at Actium, in Greece, on 2 September 31.
The exact course of the battle is not known, but it is said that while fighting a battle in Actium, Antony got false news of Cleopatra's death. Shattered, he fell on his sword. It is also said that Antony escaped to Egypt with Cleopatra when their fortunes in war turned against them. But the royal couple couldn't escape misfortune. The following year, when Octavian arrived in Egypt with his army, Antony had to commit suicide to escape imprisonment. When Cleopatra learned about Antony 's death, she was shocked. She was taken a prisoner of Octavian, restricted by his guards to part of her own palace. Shattered by her husband's death and her captivity, with the help of some loyal subjects, she arranged for a small poisonous snake, an asp, to be smuggled into her quarters in a basket of figs.
Then, Cleopatra ordered her chambermaids to leave her. She put on her royal robes, lied on a couch of gold, and applied the asp to her breast. A little later she was found dead.
Great love demands great sacrifices. The love of Antony and Cleopatra epitomize that love is another name for sacrifice.
Cleopatra, Antony and Caesar
The Greatest Love Story of all Time
Hollywood's portrayal of Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, differs from the historical record, of course. Yet the real Cleopatra was even more fascinating than in the movies.
Born in Alexandria in 69 BC, she may not have been particularly beautiful. Her portrait on coins of the time shows her with a hooked nose and manly features, though her voice was said to be alluring, and she was obviously of high intelligence and ability. She was not actually of Egyptian blood, but of Macedonian, descended from one of Alexander the Great¹s generals who had come to Egypt in the 300s BC and established himself as King Ptolomy I.
She came to the throne as Cleopatra VII in 51 BC, at the age of 17 or 18. Exiled three years later in a palace coup, she regained her throne with Julius Caesar¹s help. He called for her to appear before him, but knowing that plotters would kill her on the way, she had herself rolled up in an oriental carpet and carried into the palace secretly. Servants unrolled the carpet before Caesar, and Cleopatra fell out at his feet.
The Roman general was captivated by the vivacious, independent-minded young queen with the beautiful voice and fiery eyes. Caesar restored Cleopatra to her throne and they embarked on a two-month-long cruise up the Nile. Their son Caesarion was born shortly thereafter.
Cleopatra visited Rome in 46 BC, was received in triumph, and moved into Caesar's villa even though Caesar was already married. Caesar's imperial ambitions and his indiscreet extramarital affair with Cleopatra turned powerful senators against him, and he was murdered on the steps of the Senate in March of 44 BC.
Cleopatra fled to Egypt, but was called to Tarsus (on present-day Turkey's southern coast) by Mark Antony, one of the new rulers of Rome, to account for her actions. She arrived, dressed as Venus, goddess of Love, aboard a sumptuous "barge" sailed by a crew of female servants dressed as sea nymphs. The ship had a gilded stern, silver-tipped oars, and purple sails. Antony was bewitched! He told her dirty jokes and she told better ones right back. Whatever he wanted to do, she would do with him, proving herself his equal. When she returned to Egypt, Antony went with her to spend the winter in Egypt's pleasant climate rather than rainy Rome.
Not long after Antony returned to Rome, Cleopatra gave birth to twins. In Rome Antony married his co-emperor Octavian's sister and started a family, but four years later he was back in Alexandria, unable to live without Cleopatra. He married her in 36 BC, and never went back to Rome. Rome had had enough! Octavian invaded Alexandria in 30 BC.
On the verge of battle, Antony's fleet went over to the Roman side, and soon also did his cavalry. Antony fled to Alexandria and, thinking Cleopatra dead, stabbed himself. On learning she was still alive he had himself carried to her, and died in her arms. Octavian captured the Egyptian queen and set guards on her to make sure she did not commit suicide. He wanted to parade her through Rome triumphantly in chains. But she arranged for a servant to smuggle in an asp (a poisonous snake) in a basket of figs. She ate the figs, and wrote Octavian a letter asking that she be buried with Antony.
Octavian, sensing what this meant, alerted her guards to an attempt at suicide, but it was too late. Queen Cleopatra VII was dead at the age of 39. She was buried with Antony, leaving behind her a love story the world will never forget.
2008/09/17
REAL-LIFE TITANIC LOVE STORY REVEALED
REAL-LIFE TITANIC LOVE STORY REVEALED
A real-life romance which blossomed abroad the Titanic is revealed today as bearing remarkable similarities to the love story in the blockbuster film. Roberta Maoini, 21, was a lady's maid travelling in first class, who fell for a young steward employed on the Titanic during its doomed maiden voyage in 1912.
When the vessel struck the iceberg the steward, whose identity has never been revealed, sought Roberta out, helped her into a lifeboat and, as a final gesture, pressed his White Star brooch into her hand.
Like the lovers played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio in the hit film, Roberta survived the disaster but her sweetheart was one of the 1,513 who lost their lives.
Roberta, with her employer, Countess Lucy Rothes, was among those rescued by the Carpathia and travelled on to New York. Within hours of her arrival she wrote a moving poem, which will be auctioned next month.
Later, in 1926, she also wrote a poignant seven-page account of that traumatic night. It tells how, in the final moments, groups of men and women stood on the Titanic's decks "looking gaunt and fearful" and of how, from the safety of a lifeboat, she heard "the terrible last cries of the fourteen hundred men, women and children left" as it sank.
Roberta, who later married wealthy Yorkshire businessman Cunliffe Boland, died in the 1960s and the memorabilia was bequeathed to her relatives.
Her niece, who has asked not to be named, said: "Roberta fell madly in love with a steward and he with her.
"On deck on the night the iceberg struck, her officer gave her a badge in the shape of a star.
"After the survivors were picked up from the lifeboats and all were safely on board and attended to, she put her hand in her pocket and there it lay in the palm of her hand, the Titanic star. She always wore the star very proudly."
The poem, her gripping account of the sinking, the brooch and a photograph of Roberta are expected to fetch at least £10,000 when they are auctioned on March 16.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, of Aldridge and Son's, in Devizes, Wiltshire, said: "The poem is a dark and sombre recollection of Roberta's trauma. "The account she wrote is an important eye-witness report. But the brooch is the most touching souvenir, a love token from the courageous young man she had grown close to."
Distributed by PR Newswire on behalf of
A real-life romance which blossomed abroad the Titanic is revealed today as bearing remarkable similarities to the love story in the blockbuster film. Roberta Maoini, 21, was a lady's maid travelling in first class, who fell for a young steward employed on the Titanic during its doomed maiden voyage in 1912.
When the vessel struck the iceberg the steward, whose identity has never been revealed, sought Roberta out, helped her into a lifeboat and, as a final gesture, pressed his White Star brooch into her hand.
Like the lovers played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo Di Caprio in the hit film, Roberta survived the disaster but her sweetheart was one of the 1,513 who lost their lives.
Roberta, with her employer, Countess Lucy Rothes, was among those rescued by the Carpathia and travelled on to New York. Within hours of her arrival she wrote a moving poem, which will be auctioned next month.
Later, in 1926, she also wrote a poignant seven-page account of that traumatic night. It tells how, in the final moments, groups of men and women stood on the Titanic's decks "looking gaunt and fearful" and of how, from the safety of a lifeboat, she heard "the terrible last cries of the fourteen hundred men, women and children left" as it sank.
Roberta, who later married wealthy Yorkshire businessman Cunliffe Boland, died in the 1960s and the memorabilia was bequeathed to her relatives.
Her niece, who has asked not to be named, said: "Roberta fell madly in love with a steward and he with her.
"On deck on the night the iceberg struck, her officer gave her a badge in the shape of a star.
"After the survivors were picked up from the lifeboats and all were safely on board and attended to, she put her hand in her pocket and there it lay in the palm of her hand, the Titanic star. She always wore the star very proudly."
The poem, her gripping account of the sinking, the brooch and a photograph of Roberta are expected to fetch at least £10,000 when they are auctioned on March 16.
Auctioneer Andrew Aldridge, of Aldridge and Son's, in Devizes, Wiltshire, said: "The poem is a dark and sombre recollection of Roberta's trauma. "The account she wrote is an important eye-witness report. But the brooch is the most touching souvenir, a love token from the courageous young man she had grown close to."
Distributed by PR Newswire on behalf of
Titanic Love Stories
Written by Janet Marie Smekar
Based on some situations originated by James Cameron.
Chelsea Pier in New York
A customs officer boarded the Carpathia. He began to take down names. It had begun to rain, and everyone was getting anxious to leave the ship. The officer approached Rose.
"Your name, please, love," he said.
"Rose Dawson," she replied.
"Thank you," responded the officer, as he moved on to a group of Irish immigrants that looked to be a family.
Rose was still wearing the same dress and Cal’s coat. She placed her hands in the pockets, and discovered that the necklace was still there. She fingered it and placed it back in her pocket.
The customs officers assisted the pier workers in getting the survivors to the offices of the White Star Line. Rose was among the last to get off the ship.
After Rose got off the Carpathia, she realized that a new chapter of her life had to begin. There were promises to keep that she had made to herself and to Jack, the man she had loved and lost a few days before. She felt the Heart of the Ocean necklace in her pocket, and she realized that she needed to keep it as a reminder of her past and her future.
She started to walk away from Chelsea Pier towards the street. She began walking down the street after leaving the pier and ran into Molly Brown. "Rose!" Molly exclaimed excitedly.
Rose said, "Shh! Be quiet."
Molly took Rose to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and gave Rose a nightgown to wear while she had Rose’s dress sent to the laundry. Rose said to Molly, "I need some money to go to California. Can you help me?"
Molly said, "Of course. I will pay for your train fare. I have to go to Denver to see my children before I go to other places." Rose was very happy and felt much better.
Rose said, "Molly, promise me something."
Molly said, "I am a woman of my word."
Rose said, in a voice of venom, "Never tell my mother and Cal that I made off the Titanic alive. I want to start a new life without restraints."
Molly said, in a voice of understanding, "I will not say anything. If Jack were alive, I would also help him, too. I know he meant a lot to you."
Rose began to cry. Molly rocked her on the bed in her arms like a child. She summoned the maid for some tea.
That night, Rose prayed, "God, give me the strength to go on. Watch over Jack and Molly. Keep them safe. Amen." This would be the prayer she would say for many years, and would add others to it.
The next day, Molly took Rose to several 5th Avenue shops for some new clothes and got her a valise to carry her stuff. Then, in the privacy of her hotel room, Rose cut off a few inches of her hair, then braided it and pinned it into a bun. Molly called to Rose, "Dinner is ready."
Rose called, "Be right there, Molly."
Rose was beginning to feel much better by just being with Molly Brown. She was a trusted person to Rose. That night, she put on the Heart of the Ocean and closed her eyes to remember the night that Jack drew her like one of his French girls. She remembered saying to him, "I believe you are blushing, Mr. Big Artiste."
Rose’s memory went back to the night she realized her love for Jack, and she was ready to fulfill many of her dreams. She remembered Jack saying, "Promise me you’ll never let go, no matter how hopeless."
She had been in Paris before sailing on the Titanic with Cal, and had seen many artists like Jack. She might have seen him and never knew he was there. She opened her eyes again, removed the necklace, and placed in her coat pocket. In just over a week, she would be in California.
Going West
A week later, Rose and Molly were on a train headed west. Rose looked out the window, watching the landscape change constantly. She constantly fingered the necklace. She vowed never to give it up or sell it, no matter how bad things got.
Rose just continued to stare out the window during the day, watching the landscape of America constantly change. She was simply amazed by it because she never saw anything other than buildings in Philadelphia.
Back in New York, Ruth DeWitt Bukater and Cal Hockley mourned the loss of Rose. They never knew she made it. Her mother moved in with Cal’s family for a short time. Then she went to Philadelphia, broken-hearted over her daughter for the rest of her days.
It was May 1, 1912, the day that she was to be married to Cal. She watched Molly leave the train with tears in her eyes.
Molly said, "Send a telegram to Denver when you get to Los Angeles."
Rose replied, "I will. I promise. Thank you for your help."
Molly said, "I will continue to help. Just let me know!"
The train left Denver, and Rose wondered what her life would bring next.
Rose Reaches the City of Angels
It was May third, and the train reached Los Angeles. The ocean was not far away and could be seen in the distance.
Rose picked up her valise and coat, and got off the train. She handed the porter a dollar to take her into the city to a good hotel. The driver took to the Santa Monica Hotel in a black Model T.
She checked into the hotel as Mrs. R. J. Dawson. The bellboy carried her bag and coat to her room. Rose carried her purse with her money and the necklace. She asked the bellboy, as he opened the door to her room, "Do you have a safe in the room?"
"The safe is right here," said the bellboy.
"Thank you," said Rose.
Rose removed her shoes and sat on the bed. Tears began to stream down her face. Then she began to cry because she had seen the roller coaster from her window, the waves washing onto the shore, people drinking cheap beer, and people riding horses.
She wanted to be there with Jack, experiencing all of it. She closed her eyes and imagined them riding the roller coaster, drinking cheap beer, and riding horses in the surf. They were laughing and acting silly. No one seemed to care at all.
She remembered the promise to Jack made a few days after she tried to throw herself off the ship. "Promise me…" She wiped the tears from her eyes and began to unpack. She had enough money for a few days. Then, she would have to get a job.
The necklace and most of the money was placed in the safe. She pinned her room key inside of her skirt pocket, changed her shirt, and tied her hair back with a ribbon. She put some money in her purse and went outside. She walked to the beach. She rode the roller coaster, drank some cheap beer, and rode horses in the surf for the next few weeks and got many pictures taken.
She said to herself, "I kept the promise for you, Jack. I love you. I will never let go, no matter how hopeless."
New Life Begins
She went to a moving picture studio and got a job as a stenographer. She made twenty-five dollars a week, and got a small room in a rooming house in Santa Monica. By the end of the year, she got a Model T and learned to drive. She saved a lot of money. She even helped the woman with the rooming house by cooking supper and washing dishes, something she would never would have done if she were married to Cal.
One morning, she woke up feeling ill. She usually liked the smell of breakfast, but she couldn’t contain herself and opened the window and vomited. The feeling continued for several days.
Rose decided to go the doctor to find out what the mysterious illness was. After an examination, the doctor told her the news. "You are with child." Rose fainted in the room and the doctor had to get smelling salts.
"Where is your husband?" asked the doctor.
"Dead!" cried Rose. "About two months ago in a tragic accident!"
"Where is his family?" the doctor asked.
"I’m not sure. He didn’t have much family!" Rose responded, still crying.
"Your mother or father?" asked the doctor.
"They died also. I am the only one left!" Rose said. "But I do have a friend to take care of me at the boarding house," she added.
After the doctor said that the baby was due on January fifteenth, Rose walked out of the doctor’s office. She realized that Jack was still with her, only spiritually.
Rose patted her tummy lightly. "Jack, you are with me still. I will never let go!" she said to herself.
Rose walked home, and the woman running the house told her, "I will take care of you as if you were my own."
Rose went to her room and remembered back to that night that she and Jack made love in the Renault. She began to cry.
She said to herself, "I am going to be a success. I will raise this child and tell them about his or her wonderful father. I would never would have done it if it hadn’t been for Jack."
Rose thought, If Jack were alive, we would be married and have a house overlooking the ocean.
A Trip Back to the Past
Rose decided to take a trip to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She wanted to see Jack’s hometown. She boarded the train for the journey. She was apprehensive during the trip, knowing that she might be recognized, but she never really talked to anyone.
After a journey by car to Chippewa Falls, she looked around at the small town. She asked a local shopkeeper where to find the Dawson residence. The shopkeeper said, "The Dawson house burnt down a few years ago, but young Jack managed to escape, and we haven’t heard from him since. Why do you ask?"
"I am his widow from a shipwreck--the Titanic," she said, fighting back tears.
The shopkeeper’s wife exclaimed, "I am so sorry, my dear," and she embraced the young woman.
"I must go now," Rose said.
"Good luck, and my condolences," said the storekeeper’s wife.
She went to the local undertaker and paid two dollars to get a tombstone for Jack that was engraved:
Jack Dawson
1892-1912
Loving Husband and Friend
I’ll Never Let Go
She had it placed in the cemetery and left a bouquet of flowers. She said, "I will go on, and you will see how go on with my life."
In a few days, she returned to California and to the boarding house. The lady never asked her what the purpose of the trip had been.
Rose continued to marvel at the miracle of life occurring within her. She did not mind all of the things that came along with being in a delicate condition, such as food cravings and swollen feet. She wanted Jack more than ever, but tried to not to think about him too much. She knew that Jack was watching her and the child from above.
On the morning of January 15, 1913, Rose woke up and felt different. She told her friend that she felt pangs that she had never felt before. "What is wrong?" she asked.
Mrs. Smith said, "Your time is come, dear. Now, lie down on the bed. I will telephone the doctor."
Rose began to feel more pain and cried out Jack’s name. But she stopped crying when the doctor gave her some medicine. She fell asleep and saw Jack’s face.
After twelve hours of labor, the medicine wore off, and Rose started to hallucinate some.
It seemed like a ghost came to her. Jack’s ghost said, "Rose, you will do fine. I wish I was there. I am your angel from heaven. Watch over our child and tell her our story."
The medicine wore off, and the doctor and Mrs. Smith told Rose to push several times. After an hour of agonizing pushing, a baby girl was born.
"Very healthy, just like her mom!" the doctor said.
The doctor handed the baby to Rose. Rose beamed. She said, "The child’s name shall be Jacqueline Rose Ann Dawson."
A few days later, a priest baptized baby Jackie, as she was nicknamed by her mother. She was the spitting image of Jack, but with Rose’s red hair.
Jackie became a healthy and happy child who was the image of her parents. She followed her mother all over. She was also very intelligent and well-mannered. Rose eventually sent to her a girl’s school to get a good education, St. Mary’s School for Girls. Rose and Jackie always wrote each other often.
Rose eventually landed a few other odd jobs to save money for a place of her own--a few plays on the Los Angeles stage, a few extra roles in silent films, a pilot, a waitress, and a model, all in the period from 1913 - 1922. Then she moved into a house down the street with her earnings. She eventually landed a job working in a ceramics and pottery shop.
A New Beginning and a New Love
Ten years have passed since the tragedy…of the Titanic, thought Rose.
Eight-and-a-half-year-old Jackie asked her mom, "What was the Titanic?"
Rose sat her daughter down and told the story of her parents’ brief courtship and marriage prior to the sinking of the ship. "I loved your father, and he would have spoiled you rotten."
Jackie said, "Don’t you have a picture of him?"
Rose said, "No, I don’t. He exists now only in my memory. He was a loving man who cared for me when no one else would."
Jackie said, "That’s good enough for me."
*****
Rose was shopping one day in the city when a young man asked her a question. "Do you know where to find a good place to eat here?"
She said, "Follow me."
The young man said, "My name is John Calvert. And you are?"
Rose said, "Rose Dawson. Pleased to meet you."
John said, "Pleased to meet you, Rose."
They walked into a restaurant called San Pablo. The waiter seated them. John offered to pay, but initially Rose resisted. She eventually gave in. They shared a platter of burritos and beer.
During the meal, John asked Rose, "Tell me about yourself. Where are you from?"
Rose hesitated. Then, she began to speak. She stated, "You must not share this with anyone."
John said, "You have my word as a gentleman."
Rose said, "I was born in Philadelphia to wealthy parents. I went to school in New York, London, and Paris until I was fifteen. My father died when I was nearly sixteen. He left us in debt, which was a guarded secret until a few months before. I went to a finishing school for a year. I was engaged to a steel magnate heir, but I didn’t love him at all. I was in Europe with my widowed mother and my fiancé for several months. We returned home on a grand ship. While on board, I met a young man and fell in love with him, but was unable to talk much with him. I lost track of him and don’t remember what happened to him. When the ship docked in New York, I ran away and been here ever since."
Rose never mentioned the fact that the ship was the Titanic, nor that she fell in love with Jack. She never wanted to hear about the Titanic again.
John asked, "Why did you run away?"
Rose said, with sadness in her voice, "I was not happy with the arranged marriage. My fiancé was controlling and much older than I, and also, he was not very nice to me."
John said, "Let me tell you about myself."
As Rose sipped her beer, John talked about his life as a horse trainer and farmer in the valleys of California. He was very happy with his life and had never left the States. He was originally from Iowa, but his family moved west when he was a teenager. As he was talking, Rose riveted him, even though he had only known her for a few hours.
John paid the bill and told the waiter, "Keep the change."
They went for a walk along the beach and continued to talk. She was enthralled with John’s stories of his life because he was so similar to Jack. She held back her tears as the memories came back, but she never let John see that she was ready to cry.
He walked Rose to her house. He asked her, "Do you go to Sacred Heart Church near here?"
Rose said, "Yes, I do."
John said, "There is a social and gathering after Mass. Will you be my guest?"
Rose replied, "Yes."
John said, "See you on Sunday at ten o’clock AM."
*****
As John walked down the street, Rose felt good. She walked down the street, then went to a women’s shop and got a new blue sailor style hat so she would look her best for Sunday.
On Saturday night, Rose was dreaming. She was remembering Jack and the good times that they had together, like the third class party and the moment on the bow.
"Jack, I’m flying," she was saying in the dream, and she was smiling.
Also in the dream, she heard the song that he was singing to her, "Come Josephine in my flying machine, going up she goes, up she goes."
Then another memory. "I believe you are blushing, Mister Big Artiste."
Then another memory came back. When they had been separated for a short time when she was placed in a boat, she had left the boat to be with him.
For a moment, she felt torn between the memories of a dead man and a man who was courting her. Then the alarm clock rang for six o’clock AM, and she woke up. She splashed her face with water, then went to get a bite for breakfast downstairs.
After breakfast, Rose put on a blue empire-style dress and her new sailor hat. She fastened a set of pearls around her neck. She grabbed her purse, prayer book, and parasol. She bid good morning to the woman at the boarding house. The bells were summoning people to Mass. She took Jackie by the hand and led her into church.
Walking down the street, she was among many heading to church. Rose and Jackie went into the church. It was beautiful in the inside for Mass. John was in the back with his parents and motioned to Rose and Jackie to sit next to him. She graciously accepted and sat down.
During the Prayers of the Faithful, Rose prayed to herself, "God, watch over Jack, who is in the North Atlantic. Also, keep watch over Mother and Cal. They need it. Amen."
After Mass was over, John introduced Rose and Jackie to his parents. "Mother, Father, this is Rose Dawson, originally from the east, but she lives nearby. Rose’s husband died before Jackie was born. Rose has been a widow ever since."
Mr. Calvert shook Rose’s gloved hand, and Mrs. Calvert embraced Rose to greet her. "Pleased to meet you," they said in unison.
Then Father James came up and introduced himself to Rose. "Pleased to have you here, Miss Dawson. Hopefully you will join us every Sunday," said the priest.
Rose said, "I shall do that. I am here in town indefinitely."
Rose and John walked across the street to the park, where the social was already going on. She and John sat under a tree and sipped lemonade. They began to talk more and share more about their lives. But Rose never spoke of Jack to John. She did not feel comfortable telling him about him.
Jackie went to play with the other children in the park but kept an eye on her mom.
John whispered to Rose, "I really like you a lot. Can I meet your mother?"
Rose said, "That would be impossible. She no longer speaks to me because I ran away." She added, "I never have regretted my decision one bit."
John responded, "I am glad that you have not regretted it." He asked, "Can I see you again? Every Sunday after church?"
Rose said, "Yes, you can."
After the social, John walked Rose to the boarding house and went towards the pier to meet his parents for supper.
Rose went to her bedroom and changed to a blue dress that was not as formal. She wrote in her journal: Today is the fourth Sunday of May. It has been over ten years since Jack went to heaven. I believe that I have fallen in love with John Calvert. He resembles Jack in so many ways. I am able to confide in him, unlike Cal or Mother. I attended Mass today with him and Jackie. I met his parents also. If that step isn’t closer to a marriage proposal, what is? Today was the church social, and I was John’s guest. I met many people that I would have never gotten the opportunity to see in my old life. John is caring and thoughtful, and also a gentleman, all things that Cal never was.
Do You Take This Man?
Two months of courtship passed quickly. Before Rose realized it, she had fallen in love with John. John called on her at her house on a Saturday. Rose thought to herself, He never comes on Saturday. Something is up.
"Jackie, I am going out. Go stay with Mrs. Smith."
"Yes, Mother, I will. Kissy, kissy."
"Okay. Enough of that!" said Rose in a happy voice.
John and Rose went to the beach. John was very quiet. Rose asked, "Why are we here?"
John said, "Sit down, Rose."
John pulled out a pearl and diamond ring. He got down on one knee and asked, "Rose Dawson, will you marry me?"
Rose answered, "Yes, I will," in a voice that was very happy.
John placed the diamond and pearl ring on Rose’s finger. They walked to his parents’ house. Mr. and Mrs. Calvert already knew about John’s plans. They raised a glass of champagne and said, "To the happy couple."
Rose realized that there was a lot to be done. John wanted to go to Iowa in time to be settled in for the harvest on his grandparents’ farm. Rose wasn’t too happy about going to Iowa, but she realized that she loved him more than she knew. Jackie helped her mom with the hasty wedding plans.
A baker Rose knew from her days living in the boarding house offered to make the wedding cake for five dollars, which was half price. He liked Rose as a daughter he never had. His own daughter would never get married because she was confined to a wheelchair after a devastating illness. It was like he was doing it for his own.
The priest agreed to marry them for the cost of fifty dollars, which included the rental of the church, an organist, and a soloist.
With the help of a local seamstress, Miss Walter, Rose designed her wedding dress. It would be very beautiful.
Miss Walter said, "As a gift, here is a lace veil my mother wore on her wedding day and a dress for your daughter."
Rose responded with tears in her voice. "Thank you."
A few nights later, in a lavender lace and satin dress, a color her mother despised, Rose and John were married in the chapel of the church by Father James, with Jackie as flower girl. It was a beautiful day, and Rose was happy for the first time since that night in April. The celebration went long into the night, with plenty of people stopping by to wish the newlyweds well.
The next day, Rose and John headed to Iowa to live the remainder of her days with him and her daughter, Jackie. She became a farmer and later on, a businessman’s wife, since John stopped farming a few years after they were married.
Epilogue
Rose and John were married for sixty-five long and happy years. John adopted Jackie as his own daughter. Rose and John had two children together, John, Jr. and James Christopher. All of them blessed them with three grandchildren from Jackie, three grandchildren from J.J., and four grandchildren from James. John died two months after their sixty-fifth anniversary. Her granddaughter, Lizzy Calvert, the youngest daughter of James, took her to Ojai, California to live with her. But she never spoke of Jack and the Titanic until the day of the phone call prompted by a newscast. That is a new story altogether…
The End.
A Match Made in Webland
A Match Made in Webland
I was living and working in Manhattan back in August of 2002. I did not enjoy the “bar scene” and was not meeting quality people to date any other way so I decided to try out online dating - with the idea that I’d meet some great people and have a good time while waiting for Mr. Right to come along (not actually thinking that I’d meet him via an online dating service.)
After going out on many, many first dates that year, I made a deal with myself to meet in person those last three men that I had been communicating with and then take myself off the “market” for a while to focus on other things. The first two were nice but there was no love connection made (to be honest, I can’t even remember one thing about either one of them).
The final guy that I was going to meet was someone who had written to me about a month prior. He sent me a nice opening email to which I promptly replied. But then a little while later sent me another “initial” email to which I replied with disgust that he had already contacted me and that he must not have been sincere in his first email since he was emailing me again (I had thought that he forgot that he contacted me already and was randomly contacting me again). Fortunately for me, he did not write ME off when he got my reply (it was pretty cutting). He simply realized that he had not received my original reply (which at the time was filtered through the dating service) and understood why I had been angry and wrote to me again explaining what had happened. I decided to give him a “second chance”.
We emailed back and forth a couple of times when he sent me his cell phone number to call him since he would not be able to check his email for about two weeks (he was driving a friend out to California). I gave him a call one night and left a message. Eventually we touched base when he returned from his trip and agreed to get together soon. That following Saturday we spoke and when he asked when I’d like to go out to dinner to which I replied “How about tonight?” I had just returned from visiting with family the week prior and had plans for a relaxing weekend at home catching up on laundry, etc. and thought it might be nice to have an early dinner with him and then come home to watch a movie (alone). I really did not think much of going out with him that night, especially since it was to be my last first date for a while…not thinking that it would actually be my last first date forever.
After I called my sister and left her a message about who I was going out with and what his cell phone number was in case I was kidnapped, my apartment intercom sounded his arrival. I met him downstairs at the apartment building’s front door (yes, I know it doesn’t sound safe that I had him meet me at my place of residence but I trusted my instincts). He brought me a plant instead of flowers (I did not know this at the time but he knew I was the “one” when he saw my pictures online and figured that a plant would last longer than flowers…I still have the plant after all these years – though it is slowly withering away). After having dinner at a restaurant around the corner for about 4 hours (the time just flew by as we ate and talked), he dropped me back home apologizing that while he would like to kiss me goodnight he wasn’t going to because he was just getting over a cold. I went to bed thinking that I had a nice time and hoped he’d call again but did not get my hopes up.
The next day while I was at a Mets game with some friends, he called to say he had a great time. We had agreed to get together later that week. On Monday, I came into work with an email from him waiting, asking me if it was later in the week yet. I responded that we could get together Tuesday night. We spent time together Tuesday night…then Wednesday night…then on Friday, he was going to take me for a ride out to New Jersey to pick something up (and to get me out of the city). On the way to his Jeep, he announced that we were having dinner with his Mom. I freaked out a little – I was certainly not prepared for that. Anyway, we had dinner with his Mom then he drove me back to my apartment in New York City. He spent the night since he was going to drive me to the airport the next morning (I was going to Hong Kong for a week for work).
Once I returned from my trip (him picking me up at the airport with a gift of a stuffed dog to keep me company at my apartment in New York when he was not there), we were inseparable…up until he got deployed to Iraq for Operation Enduring Freedom. Jeff was in the Army Reserve and when he first told me that I shrugged it off as nothing to worry about – when did the Army Reserve actually go off to war? Boy was I mistaken! He left right before Valentine’s Day in 2003 (about 5 ½ months from when we first met) and returned a few days before Christmas that same year. Throughout the year, we kept in touch with tons of letters, care packages and sporadic phone calls. It was not easy to be apart but it was easy to love and remain faithful to him since I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him by my side.
In the spring of 2004, Jeff proposed to me on a swing at a beach near my hometown on Long Island where, in the Fall of 2002 (after dating less than two months), I had mistakenly blurted out “I could marry you!” He started the proposal by jokingly repeating what I said the two years prior and added “No, really, I could marry you.” Then he knelt down in front of me while I was sitting on the swing with my nephew in my lap and asked me to marry him. Jeff and I were married on a sunny day in May of 2005. Later that year, we purchased our first home in Oakland, New Jersey. We recently celebrated our son’s first birthday in January and look forward to many more happy years by each other’s side.
Popularity: 51% [?]
I was living and working in Manhattan back in August of 2002. I did not enjoy the “bar scene” and was not meeting quality people to date any other way so I decided to try out online dating - with the idea that I’d meet some great people and have a good time while waiting for Mr. Right to come along (not actually thinking that I’d meet him via an online dating service.)
After going out on many, many first dates that year, I made a deal with myself to meet in person those last three men that I had been communicating with and then take myself off the “market” for a while to focus on other things. The first two were nice but there was no love connection made (to be honest, I can’t even remember one thing about either one of them).
The final guy that I was going to meet was someone who had written to me about a month prior. He sent me a nice opening email to which I promptly replied. But then a little while later sent me another “initial” email to which I replied with disgust that he had already contacted me and that he must not have been sincere in his first email since he was emailing me again (I had thought that he forgot that he contacted me already and was randomly contacting me again). Fortunately for me, he did not write ME off when he got my reply (it was pretty cutting). He simply realized that he had not received my original reply (which at the time was filtered through the dating service) and understood why I had been angry and wrote to me again explaining what had happened. I decided to give him a “second chance”.
We emailed back and forth a couple of times when he sent me his cell phone number to call him since he would not be able to check his email for about two weeks (he was driving a friend out to California). I gave him a call one night and left a message. Eventually we touched base when he returned from his trip and agreed to get together soon. That following Saturday we spoke and when he asked when I’d like to go out to dinner to which I replied “How about tonight?” I had just returned from visiting with family the week prior and had plans for a relaxing weekend at home catching up on laundry, etc. and thought it might be nice to have an early dinner with him and then come home to watch a movie (alone). I really did not think much of going out with him that night, especially since it was to be my last first date for a while…not thinking that it would actually be my last first date forever.
After I called my sister and left her a message about who I was going out with and what his cell phone number was in case I was kidnapped, my apartment intercom sounded his arrival. I met him downstairs at the apartment building’s front door (yes, I know it doesn’t sound safe that I had him meet me at my place of residence but I trusted my instincts). He brought me a plant instead of flowers (I did not know this at the time but he knew I was the “one” when he saw my pictures online and figured that a plant would last longer than flowers…I still have the plant after all these years – though it is slowly withering away). After having dinner at a restaurant around the corner for about 4 hours (the time just flew by as we ate and talked), he dropped me back home apologizing that while he would like to kiss me goodnight he wasn’t going to because he was just getting over a cold. I went to bed thinking that I had a nice time and hoped he’d call again but did not get my hopes up.
The next day while I was at a Mets game with some friends, he called to say he had a great time. We had agreed to get together later that week. On Monday, I came into work with an email from him waiting, asking me if it was later in the week yet. I responded that we could get together Tuesday night. We spent time together Tuesday night…then Wednesday night…then on Friday, he was going to take me for a ride out to New Jersey to pick something up (and to get me out of the city). On the way to his Jeep, he announced that we were having dinner with his Mom. I freaked out a little – I was certainly not prepared for that. Anyway, we had dinner with his Mom then he drove me back to my apartment in New York City. He spent the night since he was going to drive me to the airport the next morning (I was going to Hong Kong for a week for work).
Once I returned from my trip (him picking me up at the airport with a gift of a stuffed dog to keep me company at my apartment in New York when he was not there), we were inseparable…up until he got deployed to Iraq for Operation Enduring Freedom. Jeff was in the Army Reserve and when he first told me that I shrugged it off as nothing to worry about – when did the Army Reserve actually go off to war? Boy was I mistaken! He left right before Valentine’s Day in 2003 (about 5 ½ months from when we first met) and returned a few days before Christmas that same year. Throughout the year, we kept in touch with tons of letters, care packages and sporadic phone calls. It was not easy to be apart but it was easy to love and remain faithful to him since I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him by my side.
In the spring of 2004, Jeff proposed to me on a swing at a beach near my hometown on Long Island where, in the Fall of 2002 (after dating less than two months), I had mistakenly blurted out “I could marry you!” He started the proposal by jokingly repeating what I said the two years prior and added “No, really, I could marry you.” Then he knelt down in front of me while I was sitting on the swing with my nephew in my lap and asked me to marry him. Jeff and I were married on a sunny day in May of 2005. Later that year, we purchased our first home in Oakland, New Jersey. We recently celebrated our son’s first birthday in January and look forward to many more happy years by each other’s side.
Popularity: 51% [?]
Why Use Your Finance To Buy His Romance?
Why Use Your Finance To Buy His Romance?
By Dr. Grace Cornish Livingstone
You cannot imagine the number of times I have sat and listened to women cry with excruciating pain over being taken for granted after being in an unhealthy relationship, supporting an estranged lover financially. I have seen first-hand results of women walking around with broken hearts and empty wallets because of giving too much and not getting enough in return. In anguish they reflect, “I don’t understand what went wrong. I gave him everything I had. How could he have walked out on me after I took such good care of him?”
What is extremely unfortunate and sad in these cases is, the women feel that they have to earn a man’s love by buying it. They do not believe they are capable or worthy of being loved simply because of who they are, so they attempt to get the man’s love by what they can give—in this case it’s their hard-earned money.
Keep in mind, I’m not referring to a healthy give-and-take relationship where you help each other along the way; I’m talking about the unbalanced, lopsided loving, where the woman is the meal ticket for the type of guy who just sits around and plan how to get paid by always borrowing money from her and never paying back, or always “in-between” jobs, but never really working. The scheming gigolo gives decent men a rotten name and unsuspecting women a rotten game. This practice is more common than you can image. Many of the modern-day, macho gold-diggers openly admit, “Why should I sweat at a nine-to-five job when I can get a ‘Honey’ to dish out some money?”
To give you a deeper understanding and to make sure you never get fooled into paying for love, I’ve surveyed three hundred (300) women to find out what compelled them to pay for a man’s presence in their lives. Keep in mind, some of the women surveyed have been jilted by men they have kept in the past, and others are presently in relationships with men they are financially supporting. I received an interesting range of responses, but I have arranged them into four categories. Each of these personality types has either covertly or overtly persuaded the women to use finance to maintain his romance:
1. The Cover Boy. He is incredibly handsome. He is also referred to as a “pretty boy.” She is swept away by his exceptionally good looks. She enjoys the admiration other women bestow on him, and feels he is a prize to be won. In this case, she maintains him because he looks good on her arm—he is her trophy.
2. The Lover Boy. This personality type is usually a “roaming Romeo.” He is a lady’s man in the truest sense. He is very charming and smooth. It’s no secret that he has many women, but she wants to be the one woman who conforms or reforms him into monogamy. This gives her a sense of being number one and having the edge over the others. In this case, she maintains him because she feels special to be able to pry him away from other women—he is her ego booster.
3. The Joy Boy. If you looked in the dictionary under “sex appeal,” you would find this hunk described to the letter. He possesses a sensuous and natural animal magnetism. He is clean yet rugged, rude yet alluring. He is an intoxicating blend of fire and ice—with a mesmerizing sexual attraction that bids you “come hither.” In this case, she maintains him because he satisfies her sexually—he is her sex object.
4. The Toy Boy. He is much younger than she is. She feels privileged because with all the younger women out there, he has chosen to be with her. In most cases, the woman has had to work hard all her life and never had a chance to enjoy her own youth. He makes her feel as if she is making up for what she missed earlier. She feels rejuvenated, vital, and young again. In this case, she maintains him because he helps to recapture her youth—he is her fountain of youth.
If you’re in a “pay for play” unhealthy relationship where you are allowing yourself to be used as a cash-machine for a gigolo, stop fooling yourself that everything is hunky-dory. It won’t be when the “hunk-y” walks out the “door-y” and leaves you broke, alone, and sorry. Any time you have to pay a man to love you, no matter how subtle the payment, something is wrong. Take stock of yourself and place a high value on yourself. Realize that you deserve to have a compassionate and compatible man who thinks well enough of you to look out for your best interest—instead of one who tries to squeeze your finances dry like an orange in a juice extractor. Lose the user, and choose a champion because you deserve a healthy relationship!
About the Author:
Dr. Grace Cornish Livingstone, on-air staff psychologist for the former Queen Latifah TV show, is one of America’s foremost relationship consultants. She is an award-winning, bestselling author of ten popular books, including 10 Bad Choices, The Band-Aid Bond, The Sacred Bond and You Deserve Healthy Love, Sis! Dr. Grace is currently the popular relationship columnist for the London-based Pride magazine. For Dr. Grace Cornish healthy relationship books and healthy relationship CDs visit www.myhealthylove.com
Popularity: 36% [?]
By Dr. Grace Cornish Livingstone
You cannot imagine the number of times I have sat and listened to women cry with excruciating pain over being taken for granted after being in an unhealthy relationship, supporting an estranged lover financially. I have seen first-hand results of women walking around with broken hearts and empty wallets because of giving too much and not getting enough in return. In anguish they reflect, “I don’t understand what went wrong. I gave him everything I had. How could he have walked out on me after I took such good care of him?”
What is extremely unfortunate and sad in these cases is, the women feel that they have to earn a man’s love by buying it. They do not believe they are capable or worthy of being loved simply because of who they are, so they attempt to get the man’s love by what they can give—in this case it’s their hard-earned money.
Keep in mind, I’m not referring to a healthy give-and-take relationship where you help each other along the way; I’m talking about the unbalanced, lopsided loving, where the woman is the meal ticket for the type of guy who just sits around and plan how to get paid by always borrowing money from her and never paying back, or always “in-between” jobs, but never really working. The scheming gigolo gives decent men a rotten name and unsuspecting women a rotten game. This practice is more common than you can image. Many of the modern-day, macho gold-diggers openly admit, “Why should I sweat at a nine-to-five job when I can get a ‘Honey’ to dish out some money?”
To give you a deeper understanding and to make sure you never get fooled into paying for love, I’ve surveyed three hundred (300) women to find out what compelled them to pay for a man’s presence in their lives. Keep in mind, some of the women surveyed have been jilted by men they have kept in the past, and others are presently in relationships with men they are financially supporting. I received an interesting range of responses, but I have arranged them into four categories. Each of these personality types has either covertly or overtly persuaded the women to use finance to maintain his romance:
1. The Cover Boy. He is incredibly handsome. He is also referred to as a “pretty boy.” She is swept away by his exceptionally good looks. She enjoys the admiration other women bestow on him, and feels he is a prize to be won. In this case, she maintains him because he looks good on her arm—he is her trophy.
2. The Lover Boy. This personality type is usually a “roaming Romeo.” He is a lady’s man in the truest sense. He is very charming and smooth. It’s no secret that he has many women, but she wants to be the one woman who conforms or reforms him into monogamy. This gives her a sense of being number one and having the edge over the others. In this case, she maintains him because she feels special to be able to pry him away from other women—he is her ego booster.
3. The Joy Boy. If you looked in the dictionary under “sex appeal,” you would find this hunk described to the letter. He possesses a sensuous and natural animal magnetism. He is clean yet rugged, rude yet alluring. He is an intoxicating blend of fire and ice—with a mesmerizing sexual attraction that bids you “come hither.” In this case, she maintains him because he satisfies her sexually—he is her sex object.
4. The Toy Boy. He is much younger than she is. She feels privileged because with all the younger women out there, he has chosen to be with her. In most cases, the woman has had to work hard all her life and never had a chance to enjoy her own youth. He makes her feel as if she is making up for what she missed earlier. She feels rejuvenated, vital, and young again. In this case, she maintains him because he helps to recapture her youth—he is her fountain of youth.
If you’re in a “pay for play” unhealthy relationship where you are allowing yourself to be used as a cash-machine for a gigolo, stop fooling yourself that everything is hunky-dory. It won’t be when the “hunk-y” walks out the “door-y” and leaves you broke, alone, and sorry. Any time you have to pay a man to love you, no matter how subtle the payment, something is wrong. Take stock of yourself and place a high value on yourself. Realize that you deserve to have a compassionate and compatible man who thinks well enough of you to look out for your best interest—instead of one who tries to squeeze your finances dry like an orange in a juice extractor. Lose the user, and choose a champion because you deserve a healthy relationship!
About the Author:
Dr. Grace Cornish Livingstone, on-air staff psychologist for the former Queen Latifah TV show, is one of America’s foremost relationship consultants. She is an award-winning, bestselling author of ten popular books, including 10 Bad Choices, The Band-Aid Bond, The Sacred Bond and You Deserve Healthy Love, Sis! Dr. Grace is currently the popular relationship columnist for the London-based Pride magazine. For Dr. Grace Cornish healthy relationship books and healthy relationship CDs visit www.myhealthylove.com
Popularity: 36% [?]
Dating - Can It Really Be That Easy?
Dating - Can It Really Be That Easy?
By Fabricio Cruz
If you need a break from adult dating online, refresh with some online dating games, some are designed to help you with your personal profiles for real online dating websites, and some are just fun. You’ve chosen several photos from your online dating service and sent out your personal online profile. With over 100 free online dating sites, it’s easy to choose to log on or post your profile for free, but there are some unique differences between pay and free sites that you should take into consideration before signing up.
Most online dating games are actually questionnaires to help you complete a better profile for your current online adult dating service, and are harmless enough, just be sure to check the ratings before using them, most have an intolerable amount of pop ups, because they are considered free dating online tools. By paying a small membership fee and being a member of an online dating service, a person will be able to save money on someone who shares the same interest and actually have a good time. Moreover, if in the event that a certain member of an online dating service is causing some trouble, the concerned person can immediately request the online dating service to block the person or revoke the membership.
Users of Russian online dating sites report that they get the same “gut feeling” about a person they are chatting with through an online dating service as they do when eye contact is made across a crowded party. The bigger question is, what do we truly want in a mate, and can someone know this when they are filling out an online dating service profile? I think technology has the potential to cut out diversity in relationships, and that could have some pretty serious consequences to the gene pool.
Moreover, according to the Ipsos-Reid Poll, four out of ten people who were interviewed think that it is better to instigate a relationship through online dating services and have greater chances of success than those that had started in the single’s bar.
There are over 100 free online dating services, which can attract people who aren’t committed to being a site member and following through with the rules that the site set up. However, there are instances wherein people do not just connect to an online dating site and instantly find somebody whom they can share the rest of their lives with. Since its inception, online dating had continuously brought two people together in spite of the fact that they are worlds apart, with lands and waters separating them.
The reason why most people do not get something good in online dating is based on the fact that they are not confident enough. Some psychologists explain that the reason for these discrepancies is that the Internet-based online dating test are only through self-evaluation and are not guided by reliable psychological assessment, which usually are done in clinical conditions. For example, if an individual is feeling low or is “heartbroken” by the time he or she tried to answer an online dating test and answered them again on a different mood, chances are, the results may vary.
You can have a website specifically designed for senior online dating, interracial online dating, or an international online dating website that matches people from around the world. A free online dating website is set up as a confidential, member’s only website wherein either males or females are free to join. The best online dating service will require two things that a free site can not usually afford to have-payment through credit card only and software in 24 hour use which detects phrases that are considered inappropriate for the site.
When searching singles in your area stick to the bigger, more reputable online dating services, they have the capabilities of 24 hour security software, which is designed to track incoming and outgoing emails for inappropriate behavior through language recognition.
About The Author:
Fabricio Cruz will show you how to attract the world’s most beautiful women, regardless of age, looks or
income! Check out his Spanish book right now!
Popularity: 49% [?]
By Fabricio Cruz
If you need a break from adult dating online, refresh with some online dating games, some are designed to help you with your personal profiles for real online dating websites, and some are just fun. You’ve chosen several photos from your online dating service and sent out your personal online profile. With over 100 free online dating sites, it’s easy to choose to log on or post your profile for free, but there are some unique differences between pay and free sites that you should take into consideration before signing up.
Most online dating games are actually questionnaires to help you complete a better profile for your current online adult dating service, and are harmless enough, just be sure to check the ratings before using them, most have an intolerable amount of pop ups, because they are considered free dating online tools. By paying a small membership fee and being a member of an online dating service, a person will be able to save money on someone who shares the same interest and actually have a good time. Moreover, if in the event that a certain member of an online dating service is causing some trouble, the concerned person can immediately request the online dating service to block the person or revoke the membership.
Users of Russian online dating sites report that they get the same “gut feeling” about a person they are chatting with through an online dating service as they do when eye contact is made across a crowded party. The bigger question is, what do we truly want in a mate, and can someone know this when they are filling out an online dating service profile? I think technology has the potential to cut out diversity in relationships, and that could have some pretty serious consequences to the gene pool.
Moreover, according to the Ipsos-Reid Poll, four out of ten people who were interviewed think that it is better to instigate a relationship through online dating services and have greater chances of success than those that had started in the single’s bar.
There are over 100 free online dating services, which can attract people who aren’t committed to being a site member and following through with the rules that the site set up. However, there are instances wherein people do not just connect to an online dating site and instantly find somebody whom they can share the rest of their lives with. Since its inception, online dating had continuously brought two people together in spite of the fact that they are worlds apart, with lands and waters separating them.
The reason why most people do not get something good in online dating is based on the fact that they are not confident enough. Some psychologists explain that the reason for these discrepancies is that the Internet-based online dating test are only through self-evaluation and are not guided by reliable psychological assessment, which usually are done in clinical conditions. For example, if an individual is feeling low or is “heartbroken” by the time he or she tried to answer an online dating test and answered them again on a different mood, chances are, the results may vary.
You can have a website specifically designed for senior online dating, interracial online dating, or an international online dating website that matches people from around the world. A free online dating website is set up as a confidential, member’s only website wherein either males or females are free to join. The best online dating service will require two things that a free site can not usually afford to have-payment through credit card only and software in 24 hour use which detects phrases that are considered inappropriate for the site.
When searching singles in your area stick to the bigger, more reputable online dating services, they have the capabilities of 24 hour security software, which is designed to track incoming and outgoing emails for inappropriate behavior through language recognition.
About The Author:
Fabricio Cruz will show you how to attract the world’s most beautiful women, regardless of age, looks or
income! Check out his Spanish book right now!
Popularity: 49% [?]
Elizabeth Taylor's First Dramatic Film
What Was Elizabeth Taylor's First Dramatic Film? by: Andrew Conway
A Place In The Sun was one of the 50's most intriguing
films. The release date was October 11, 1951. I celebrated
my third birthday party on that exact date, but it wasn't
until years later that I actually saw that film. As I was
growing older, I developed a big crush, like most of my
friends, on Elizabeth Taylor.
The movie depicts an up and coming George Eastman [played
by Montgomery Cliff] being thrust into the blue collar
life of a rich uncle's family business, and falling in
love with another women, despite the fact that his own
[secret] girlfriend was now pregnant.
Directed by George Stevens, who did a brilliant job,despite
the constraints that were imposed on him by Paramount. This
film classic was actually a remake of a film that was made
20 years earlier that was a total bomb. The studio had lost
a huge amount of money on the earlier version, so the
monetary restraints were put in place before they even
started shooting.
A very young Elizabeth Taylor, who plays Angela Vickers,is
paired with Montgomery Cliff in this classic story of doomed
love.It was Miss Taylor's best work to date and her first
dramatic role. Her raw natural beauty lights up the screen.
Shelly Winters [who plays Alice Tripp] gives a convincing
performance of the poor homely girl who happens to fall in
love with George Eastman.Upon learning that she is pregnant,
she fanatasies about the life that she and George will share
together but after finding out about George's real love interest,
she threatens him with exposure, unless he agrees to marry her.
His mind is full of crazy thoughts about what he should do.
He leaves a dinner party to meet Alice and ends up in a
boat on moon lake with her. As she starts to describe the
dreary, uninteresting life that both of them will live,
George's mind is filled only with thoughts of the
beautiful Taylor. He changes his mind about his plans of
droning Alice and starts back to shore. But in one ironic
twist of fate,Alice moves to be closer to George and causes
the boat to capsize, falls into the lake and drowns anyway.
He is captured and prosecuted by an ambitious district
attorney [played by Raymond Burr].
This is definitely one of the best classic movies that ever
came out of Hollywood.It won 6 Oscars, another 7 wins and 8
nominations. This is a classic example tragic romanticism.
A Place In The Sun was one of the 50's most intriguing
films. The release date was October 11, 1951. I celebrated
my third birthday party on that exact date, but it wasn't
until years later that I actually saw that film. As I was
growing older, I developed a big crush, like most of my
friends, on Elizabeth Taylor.
The movie depicts an up and coming George Eastman [played
by Montgomery Cliff] being thrust into the blue collar
life of a rich uncle's family business, and falling in
love with another women, despite the fact that his own
[secret] girlfriend was now pregnant.
Directed by George Stevens, who did a brilliant job,despite
the constraints that were imposed on him by Paramount. This
film classic was actually a remake of a film that was made
20 years earlier that was a total bomb. The studio had lost
a huge amount of money on the earlier version, so the
monetary restraints were put in place before they even
started shooting.
A very young Elizabeth Taylor, who plays Angela Vickers,is
paired with Montgomery Cliff in this classic story of doomed
love.It was Miss Taylor's best work to date and her first
dramatic role. Her raw natural beauty lights up the screen.
Shelly Winters [who plays Alice Tripp] gives a convincing
performance of the poor homely girl who happens to fall in
love with George Eastman.Upon learning that she is pregnant,
she fanatasies about the life that she and George will share
together but after finding out about George's real love interest,
she threatens him with exposure, unless he agrees to marry her.
His mind is full of crazy thoughts about what he should do.
He leaves a dinner party to meet Alice and ends up in a
boat on moon lake with her. As she starts to describe the
dreary, uninteresting life that both of them will live,
George's mind is filled only with thoughts of the
beautiful Taylor. He changes his mind about his plans of
droning Alice and starts back to shore. But in one ironic
twist of fate,Alice moves to be closer to George and causes
the boat to capsize, falls into the lake and drowns anyway.
He is captured and prosecuted by an ambitious district
attorney [played by Raymond Burr].
This is definitely one of the best classic movies that ever
came out of Hollywood.It won 6 Oscars, another 7 wins and 8
nominations. This is a classic example tragic romanticism.
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