SEPTEMBER 2018 PARKER COUNTY TODAY
4
Does anyone remember the historical romance novel craze ? I understand they ’ re making something of a comeback .
Historical romance novels tend do make a resurgence whenever a lot of modern women start feeling overwhelmed with the modern world . Lots of people long for a time when the pace of life was a little slower and people cared a lot more .
I had a few friends who , were swept away by the romance novel craze . Most were young moms . While their spouses struggled to climb the ladder of success , they spent the majority of their spare time reading historical romance novels and complaining about their life partners didn ’ t pay enough attention to them , dreaming about living on a huge ranch in the 19 th century , or a plantation in the antebellum era , all this was taking the brainpower of the reader as their own careers floundered , their relationships and families crumbled and everyone grew more and more miserable .
I had a co-worker who was a graphic artist and she would bring one of those novels with her to work , hidden in her handbag , and she ’ d read it in her cubicle whenever her boss wasn ’ t around . Finally , she was fired for reading when she was supposed to create great designs , but then , I digress .
The designing , reading woman once said to me , “ I wish I had lived in the 19 th century . It was so romantic back then . Don ’ t you think ?”
The 19 th Century was romantic ? Really ? Was it ?
I admit that I do long for a sweeter , more genteel society . What I do not long for is a world without air conditioning in the summer , without
A Letter From The Editor
Longing For A Sweeter Time ? Me , Too . Sort Of .
deodorant , laptops or cellphones . I ’ ve never longed for a by-gone era that lacked easily accessible showers , bathtubs , hot tubs . Oh , and satellite radio — I love satellite radio , almost as much as I love GPS . Wait , there ’ s the Internet , great indoor plumbing , and wonderful dentistry accompanied by pain killers .
Then I thought about hair — my great hair dresser ( with her great gadgets ) is someone I do not want to do without . Can I bring her along in my little time-traveling adventure ? Did they have great hairdressers back then ? Probably not . Well , maybe someone did , after all , there was some pretty great hair in some of those Renoirs , but then that was France . Nobody asked me if I wanted to live in 19 th Century France , she was reading historic romances set in the USA .
Speaking of the 19 th Century , OB / GYNs and oncologists were almost non-existent back then . Everyone went to the same doctor for everything , so the same doctor that took out your appendix also gave you Botox . How screwy is that ?
Flea and tick control is another perk of modern life .
I love the look of the clothes from the Anti-Bellum age , as well as the Edwardian and Victorian eras , but would I really want to wear all that stuff ? That ’ s a lot of stuff , day-in-andday-out — work while wearing layers and layers of clothes . I don ’ t even wear pantyhose , much less layers and layers of apparel .
That brings us back to the no air conditioning issue . Yikes !
And yes , I would like to live in a time when most people were kind and polite , when there were no giant televisions in restaurant dining rooms and nail salons blaring ESPN . I would love to talk to people that didn ’ t have a phone to pull out and stare at . The only problem is that I wouldn ’ t have a phone to pull out and stare at either . Not good .
While I ’ d love to live during a kinder , gentler era , no one pictures themselves as a cook or a parlor maid or a liveryman during these kinder , gentler times . Likely , being an 8-year-old orphan working in a Boston shoe factory stitching boots 16-hour-days would not be a genteel experience .
I doubt that you would feel the abundance of human kindness that everyone seems to think permeated the USA in the 19 th Century .
I do believe that most people were probably “ nicer ,” for the most part . I believe most parents taught their children to be polite and respectful — I believe they taught all 18 of their children these things and that these lessons enriched their entire lives , and made them happier until they died at the age of 31 .
I really do long to live among kind , polite , honest people .
That ’ s why I live in Parker County , because here MOST people are kind and polite and everyone knows everyone . It would be great to live back in a time when people sat down for Sunday dinner together without their cell phones and actually talked to one another . But then , that was a time when no one had cellphones . NO CELLPHONES ? That ’ s disturbing .
Maybe it ’ s not the era I ’ d like to exchange , maybe it ’ s society . If only everyone would act like your typical Parker Countian , life would be a dream , sweetheart . Then , we could keep our cell phones and our air conditioners and deodorant .
I ’ m leaving Parker County less and less frequently these days . Maybe that ’ s why I turned to my designing friend and told her , “ Not really ,” as I looked at the mangled cover of the well-worn book she ’ d been reading . “ Can you imagine wearing all of that without air conditioning ?”
She had no response , which was OK . After all , it was really a rhetorical question after all .
Thanks For Reading . Marsha Brown , Editor-in-Chef and Publisher , Parker County Today