Psychology of Dating
Amazingly on-the-mark article -- mirrors a lot of what I've experienced in my own dating/relationships. Even in my family's history, there's a parallel with what the author's great-grandmother experienced (although my grandmother had agreed willingly to the marriage). My grandfather had moved to Argentina (from Croatia) in the late 1920s -- he saw the writing on the wall in terms of the instability in Europe following WWI and the potential for another war in the future. Argentina had an open and welcoming policy towards immigrants, much like the land-grant policies in the U.S. So, he arrived in Argentina and there weren't a whole lot of women around. He ended up writing to his Mom, back in Croatia, to see if she could inquire about my grandmother and to see if she (and her family) would be ok with him starting up a correspondence. They were from the same town, and he had remembered my grandmother, even though they were quite a few years apart in age. She remembered him too -- and they started writing to each other! Eventually, he asked her if she would marry him, and she said yes. Her father paid for a round-trip passage for her, and put her on a ship to Argentina, on one condition. My grandfather *had* to marry her before she stepped off the ship. Her father made sure that the captain knew this pre-condition. And sure enough, my grandfather met the ship with a priest in tow. They got married, and lived happily ever after. Well, at least until they passed away...strangely enough, on the same day (May 17th) but 9 years apart. In a strange coincidence, my grandparents on my father's side also passed away on the same day, but 33 years apart.
