Just lately I've been sending a few emails to my 'besties' with content like: 'Haven't forgotten you, busy this end. Hope all OK with you?' Which is not exactly a scintillating sort of conversation, but is the situation in a nutshell. I mean - I didn't even realise it was August, whatever happened to June? (or May, come to that!)
By 'Busy' I mean I've been re-editing the entire series of the Sea Witch Voyages. Not just reading through and kicking out the typos (yep, they were there!) but putting right a couple of continuity bloopers which occurred because I wasn't expecting the first book to run into what is going to be a long-term series. (In other words, I hadn't planned out future plots back in 2006 when I wrote Sea Witch.)
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| Mermaid - e-book the early adventures of Jesamiah Acorne |
Then an email from a dear Canadian friend popped into my inbox, and I thought I would share it with you. It is old - very old - but worth dusting off and re-posting:
"When you are very busy, but still want to keep in touch, guess what you do? You forward emails!
When you have nothing to say, but still want to keep contact, you forward jokes.
When you have something to say, but don't know what, and don't know how . . . . You forward... stuff!
A 'forward' lets you know that...
You are still remembered,
You are still important,
You are still loved,
You are still cared for.
So, next time you get a 'forward',
Don't think that you've been sent just another forwarded joke but that you've been thought of, and your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile."
Which then got me thinking. (OK don't all groan and mutter 'Oh no, not again!')
How did the people of the past deal with/cope with not hearing from their loved ones when they went away? In many cases, never, ever, to be seen again.
A few centuries ago few 'ordinary' people could read or write so no mail - old fashioned letter mail that is. No telephones until the early 1900s - goodness, how did we survive without our mobile phones?
The only word received by a mother or wife, father, siblings, left at home would be, often years later, via word of mouth - if they were lucky.
Men, boys, went off to war. Many never came back. Think about the sailors on those first voyages across the Atlantic, Pacific or circumnavigating the world - Columbus, Drake, de Gama, William Dampier, Cook et al.
I have a feeling that perhaps some of the wives were quite relieved that their other half had b*ggered off, as there is evidence that some of these marriages were not happy ones. Dampier and Henry Morgan (he of rum fame), we know, had little interest in their spouses. For these women, as long as she was well-provided for, it meant she had the status of being married but not the worry of childbirth or (in many cases) the unwelcome intrusion of sex. They were quite happy for their husbands to be off somewhere, and possibly, disappointed when they eventually came home again. ('Life is not always a box of chocolates' as someone once said!)
Were the mothers, wives, sisters, more accepting of their men-folk clearing off than we are today? I guess it was slightly different where war and battles were concerned because it was more likely that they would, eventually, hear of their loved one's death. But for sailors? Quite often a ship would go down and no one would be any the wiser as to where, why, how or when. It would simply be that the ship, and its crew, never came home again.
We know of Columbus, Dampier, Cook, Drake, de Gama - and other adventurers such as Marco Polo, because they did come home. But let us, perhaps, take a moment to think of the unknowns, the nameless many who didn't... Those many, many who set out, waving goodbye and never returned again...
And here's me worrying because my daughter and son-in-law always forget to call me to say they've arrived safely at a competition venue a mere hour or so drive away...
P.S. why not email the friends you've not contacted for a while? Send a joke or a nice picture, or just a 'hi, haven't forgotten you!' message. Oh, and add this link....
Tuesday Talk: Staying In Touch...
https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/2019/08/tuesday-talk-staying-in-touch.html
"When you are very busy, but still want to keep in touch, guess what you do? You forward emails!
When you have nothing to say, but still want to keep contact, you forward jokes.
When you have something to say, but don't know what, and don't know how . . . . You forward... stuff!
A 'forward' lets you know that...
You are still remembered,
You are still important,
You are still loved,
You are still cared for.
So, next time you get a 'forward',
Don't think that you've been sent just another forwarded joke but that you've been thought of, and your friend on the other end of your computer wanted to send you a smile."
 |
| waiting for an email? |
How did the people of the past deal with/cope with not hearing from their loved ones when they went away? In many cases, never, ever, to be seen again.
A few centuries ago few 'ordinary' people could read or write so no mail - old fashioned letter mail that is. No telephones until the early 1900s - goodness, how did we survive without our mobile phones?
The only word received by a mother or wife, father, siblings, left at home would be, often years later, via word of mouth - if they were lucky.
Men, boys, went off to war. Many never came back. Think about the sailors on those first voyages across the Atlantic, Pacific or circumnavigating the world - Columbus, Drake, de Gama, William Dampier, Cook et al.
 |
| William Dampier Circumnavigated the world three times |
I have a feeling that perhaps some of the wives were quite relieved that their other half had b*ggered off, as there is evidence that some of these marriages were not happy ones. Dampier and Henry Morgan (he of rum fame), we know, had little interest in their spouses. For these women, as long as she was well-provided for, it meant she had the status of being married but not the worry of childbirth or (in many cases) the unwelcome intrusion of sex. They were quite happy for their husbands to be off somewhere, and possibly, disappointed when they eventually came home again. ('Life is not always a box of chocolates' as someone once said!)
Were the mothers, wives, sisters, more accepting of their men-folk clearing off than we are today? I guess it was slightly different where war and battles were concerned because it was more likely that they would, eventually, hear of their loved one's death. But for sailors? Quite often a ship would go down and no one would be any the wiser as to where, why, how or when. It would simply be that the ship, and its crew, never came home again.
 |
| No knowing when, why, how or where... |
P.S. why not email the friends you've not contacted for a while? Send a joke or a nice picture, or just a 'hi, haven't forgotten you!' message. Oh, and add this link....
Tuesday Talk: Staying In Touch...
https://ofhistoryandkings.blogspot.com/2019/08/tuesday-talk-staying-in-touch.html
What an absolutely lovely post. Thank you so much for remembering us, your devoted readers. I was actually wondering how the transition to the new publisher was going. Now I have a partial answer.
ReplyDeleteOh, I thought you were mailing them and I'd been accidentally unsubscribed. Good to know it's not true. Also, so happy that you are busy writing. As a writer who is going to self publish, I am editing, so I understand disappearing for a long while. I intend to get all your books in print, now that they are going to be available here in the states...Yay! So have a happy few months and I will look forward to your next newsletter and post. BTW, I love your posts. Never stop...
ReplyDelete