While there are a lot of good things about modern times (antibiotics, vaccines, greater rights for women, the Internet), sometimes I still wonder if I was born in the wrong era.

Lynn posted the other day about 19th century "personal" ads:

ADORED darling. - How dark my life without the light that you shed upon it, how cold without the warmth of your love! Dearest on earth, my heart languishes for the rich treasure of your love. Longing to see you, if no other news, will be this evening same place as last time. Kindly grant my request. Remember, sweet, noble soul, you are my everything in this wide world, and I press you in my arms as I worship you.

Seriously, if a fellow honestly, truly, and seriously put that in a letter addressed to me - well, while I wouldn't necessarily offer a blanket "yes" to whatever he was requesting, I can say that the answer would be a lot more LIKELY to be "yes."

Ah, to have someone who felt like that about you. (And yeah, yeah, my cynical side is saying that it's so much shaving cream, the side of me that still harbors some romantic hope cannot help but be charmed by that passage - and really hope that the ADORED darling of the gentleman in question said "yes" to his proposal)