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Would you read your grandparent's love letters?

Today we found a stack of love letters my grandfather wore to my grandmother in 1931. They were living apart for work.
Faust76 · 46-50, M
A story like that was just in *all* of the major gossip newspapers some weeks/months ago. They found their grandparents love letters and were going to read them on Twitter or something, but apparently it turned out a bad idea lol.

However, I wonder if they deleted posts or what because I couldn't really figure out what the deal was, or if the media were just snickering at "oh they can't talk about the contents after all".

And yeah, James Joyce's (Famous Irish novelist and poet) love letters are a running *ahem* gag, that leaves ANY modern day sexting to shame. o.O But yeah, maybe not everybody got into that, and there's certainly going to be a lot of more mundane keeping up to date and romancing.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@Faust76 I think they are a mixture of sex, romance, and family news.
SW-User
After my grandmother died we found out her wedding anniversary was 6 months later than she'd always said. My uncle would have been a quite visible bump on wedding day, which must have been quite a scandal in a small village in Northern England in 1931.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@SW-User Oh yes! They would have been. Many people told their families different birth and wedding dates back then.
HannibalAteMeOut · 22-25, F
Awww that's so lovely! I'd read them, of course! Out of curiosity about how they used to express their feelings and all. I wish that everyone back then would have the chance to be with the one they loved and also educated enough to write a letter. That would be pretty rare for the 30's, so that's another reason to make them more interesting and inviting to read.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@HannibalAteMeOut My grandfather had a college education and he was a WWII Veteran.
HannibalAteMeOut · 22-25, F
@SweetMae my great-grandfather died in WWII but back then only the rich people had the privilege of going to school. My grandparents barely did go to school (for just some years), then they had to work. Too many difficulties.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@HannibalAteMeOut It was very difficult to get an education back then.
jim44444 · 70-79, M
I have nothing from my grandparents. Somewhere in storage are the letters my wife and I wrote each other when I was in the Army. They would make for good soft porn reading.

I think it is hard for people to think of their grandparents as sexual beings. We like to think of ourselves as the leaders of a sexual revolution but yet everything we are doing and discovering has been done by our ancestors. We are just repeating the joy.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@jim44444 That is very true. My grandfather was always the perfect gentleman whenever anyone was around.
Noble · 56-60, M
Oh my yes. How touching that would be!
Noble · 56-60, M
Wow.
How special that must’ve been to dig into those and explore. 🤗 @SweetMae
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@Noble It is. There are many to read. 🤗
Noble · 56-60, M
Soooo happy for you, Mae!@SweetMae
sunrisehawk · 61-69, M
That would give you a wonderful insight into your grandparents. To hear their words of love and affection echoing down from long ago, would bring a different part of them to life in your mind.

I would read and enjoy getting to know them in a very different way. If they had not wanted others to eventually read them, they would have destroyed them back in the 30's.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@sunrisehawk I think that is true. Thank you.
SW-User
Oh wow, lucky you! I read my dad's to my mom while he was in the Army as a teen. They're both gone now and the letters were nowhere to be found. I hate it, I treasure those things!
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@SW-User I might get rid of mine before my grandkids read them!! 😳
SW-User
@SweetMae Yeah, no kids or grandkids over here but whoever finds mine won't really be surprised if they know me!😇
dentope3 · M
I was away at college while my future wife was back in nj. I have a boxful. she kept every correspondence for 4 years
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@dentope3 Those must be precious to you.
dentope3 · M
@SweetMae they are. it's special having her handwriting. probably hard to understand what that means
Nimbus · M
Noooooo, there are dark secrets in the family and the skeletons are best left in the closet! :)
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@Nimbus I read a half of one. Not sure if I should continue.
Nimbus · M
@SweetMae That's the problem, you may find something you wish you hadn't!
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SweetMae · 70-79, F
@SW-User It was fun to buy pretty stationery and write to the person you loved. I would put a little perfume on mine and seal them with a lipstick kiss.
dentope3 · M
@SweetMae still traces of lipstick but the perfume is gone. have her Shalimar up in my dresser though
Peaches · F
Yes. 😍 I found an old letter written to my mother from my dad. I never knew much about him and it really intrigued me.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@Peaches It was obvious that my grandfather loved my grandmother very much. They were married 10 years at the time. I only read two. The rest will remain their secret now.
SW-User
There's no way that I'd be able to keep myself from reading them.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@SW-User They are tempting.
SW-User
I would.
I bet they would be so endearing.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@SW-User They were endearing and a bit passionate in places too.
SW-User
Sure. That's so sweet!
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@SW-User They were very passionate in a few paragraphs.
SW-User
@SweetMae Ooooooh!
Groofydorkgerdo · 51-55, M
No way in heaven or hell.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@Groofydorkgerdo I have mixed feelings!!
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@SStarfish They were married over 60 years and loved each other very much.
@SweetMae aww sweet ☺️👍🏼
Yes, I would because then romance was the thing, and just connecting. They are part of our heritage.
Dino11 · M
No, I don't so. If they were alive I don't think they would let me.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@Dino11 My grandparents have been gone over 20 years now. But I understand what you mean.
Dino11 · M
@SweetMae Some things should remain private. Just my opinion.
BrattyMel · 31-35, F
Not after finding their chest of sex toys!
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@BrattyMel Your grandparents let you find those?
BrattyMel · 31-35, F
@SweetMae no. I was like 10 and my cousin and I were in their room laying on the floor watching tv. I saw the chest and pulled it out from under their bed. We opened it and found it all.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@BrattyMel I hope you just slid it back where you found it
SW-User
That's the sweetest thing ever! Yeah, I would
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@SW-User They had been married over 5 years and had two children by then.
Tminus6453 · M
Yeah, I would
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@Tminus6453 I read half of one so far.
Tminus6453 · M
@SweetMae I can imagine courting was the same back then
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@Tminus6453 Yes, it was. They had been married over 5 years when he wrote the letters.
SW-User
What a cool find!
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@SW-User I thought so. They loved each other dearly.
SW-User
So precious
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@SW-User I might type up excerpts and have a book printed for the grandchildren.
Yes, my father found the letters my grandfather wrote to my grandmother when they were courting, in the 1920s. They were in the idiomatic Creole that people spoke then.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@bijouxbroussard Those must have been such a treasure. Could you read them?
@SweetMae With some work. Pop translated most of them for me. They were surprisingly formal. That's when I found out it was an [b]arranged[/b] marriage.
SweetMae · 70-79, F
@bijouxbroussard Oh wow! I guess that was common in some families.

 
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