Dating: Then and Now, Essay Example

Having read the article, I decided to interview my great-grandmother. She is very elderly now, and the time in which she was dating was very different from the modern experience. Her husband, Bill, has been dead for many years now, but she enjoyed the chance to speak about the life they shared. She is a very spunky woman and ahead of her time in her thoughts and actions. I am relating her thoughts and stories in her voice.

When Bill and I first met, it was at church. The church wasn’t bigger than this house. I knew him before we formally met, but in those days, you had to be introduced to a man. My sister, who was already married, introduced me to Bill. We talked a bit and got along really well. When I was young, most of the girls met someone at church. It was a safe place where the community gathered. You didn’t meet people from far away the way you young ones do now. You had to find someone in your community and marry them. I guess you married more for reasons other than just love. You had to like the man, but you didn’t have to be deeply in love.

Bill asked my father if we could court. He let me know that he would pick me up at the house. I was so nervous. I remember that I had to borrow my sister’s shoes because I didn’t have any nice ones. They were several sizes too big. Bill drove the wagon up to the house for our first date. He had a team of mules pulling the wagon that usually worked on his parent’s farm. He came in and talked to my parents for a little bit, and then we went for a ride in the wagon. My sister, Ella, had to chaperone us, which was common back then. The adults wouldn’t led kids go out together without supervision. That night we talked for an hour or two. I got to know Bill really well, and I could already see that I would marry him. His father owned a store in town near the train depot in addition to the family farm. Bill was going to inherit the store, so I knew that I would have a good life.

We kept courting for a few more times, and then, we got engaged. The engagement didn’t last long. He had asked my father if we could marry, and my father gave his blessing. The marriage followed shortly after. I immediately moved in with him. He inherited the store, and we lived a good life together. I loved him.

The immediate differences between my grandmother’s experience and mine are apparent. While many people meet at religious gatherings, most do not. People now meet through friends, online, or through other social gatherings. Also, the period of engagement is much longer now. My great-grandmother was only engaged for a few weeks. Now, most engagements last several months to a few years. Also, the predominant reason for marriage in the modern time is a sense of love. This was not my great-grandmother’s reason for getting married. Instead, she needed to know that she had someone to take care of her after her father and mother could not. She saw Bill as a good mate because of his income and position. Also, we no longer require supervision for dating.

Overall, the many differences between my great-grandmother’s experience and mine are based on a changing society. People now do not worry about finding support in a marriage as most can support themselves. They date and marry on the basis of love and attraction. Also, there is little concern about pregnancy and the social risks of being pregnant due to birth control and changes in society’s view of sex.