February 14th, 2016

A Valentine Legacy​

​​As a romance writer and someone who wishes everyone a Happy Every After plus a happy heart, I couldn't think of a better time to debut my blog, Second Chances Unlimited, than on Valentine's Day!

​The date can elicit any number of memories and feelings from despondency if one is single to excitement at what one's better half will do to prove his or her love. Today I'm thinking of my great-grandparents whom I was blessed to know well as they both lived to a ripe old age. My great-grandmother, Nannie Victoria Elliott, at a rather young age spied an advertisement in a magazine for correspondence with a young man in Fredericks, Maryland and decided to respond.  Thus began a relationship that would last 65 years.

​Winter turns to spring in North Carolina and Nannie presses an early violet and includes it in her next letter to Tobias Martin, telling him that spring has arrived in North Carolina. Tobias opens the letter to a wisp of spring, a warm embrace in comparison to the stark winter fields outside his window.  At that moment Tobias decides it is time to make the acquaintance of this friendly young lady and promptly tells his parents he is leaving for North Carolina and will marry Nannie Elliott - not exactly what his family wants to hear, he  will be the first to marry someone who is not German..

​Nannie and Tobias where married April, 1911. Together they survived the depression and raised a family of three girls, the eldest of which became my grandmother.  Their years obviously had many ups and downs but the romance writer in me loves the idea of a 65 year marriage that began with the simple act of writing a letter.

​May your Valentine's Day be full of special moments whether with family or friends and until we meet again I wish you love and laughter.