Thirties Thursday

I'm very proud of this Thirties Thursday post. It first ran on January 13, 2011.

Your earliest memories are of you and your mother being treated as the 'poor relations'.

Although you ache to be traditionally pretty, you realize in high school you never will be.

You marry at an early age to a tall, handsome pilot and move across the country to his base. You're thrilled to have your own home and start living your own life.

Your romantic dreams of happily ever after are crushed when you discover you have married an abusive alcoholic. You feel trapped as you know your family will never condone a divorce.

Believing your husband's messages of remorse, you follow him to the Far East, where you quickly discover he hasn't changed.

You head back for home, determined to get a divorce and start your life anew.

You fall in love again, this time with a foreign ambassador.

Your heart is broken when he informs you that his family will never accept him marrying a divorced woman.

You spend several years alone, drifting aimlessly.

You decide to marry again; but this time you choose a quiet, steady man who loves you far more than you love him. You both want to 'get on' in life and climb society's ladder.

You have several happy years with your new husband. You spend your weekends with him traveling in the countryside and antiquing. Slowly but surely, you make new friends and start getting invited to grand houses and attending sparkling dinner parties.

Although you spend most of your time worrying about money (it's a rough economic time and your husband's income has decreased), one of your girlfriend's admirers is one of the world's most glamorous men. Meeting him is the thrill of a lifetime.

This man includes you and your husband in his inner circle of friends; you get to travel in luxury and spend your weekends at his country house. You tell your friends you feel as if you're in Wonderland.

You realize this man is becoming attracted to you and you are immensely flattered. You're not as young as you used to be and his attention and gifts make you feel as if you're finally a success. You know this is only a flirtation as one day he must marry.

You discover this man is more than attracted to you; he's in love with you. In love to a degree which you have never experienced before. He phones you constantly. He wants to be with you at all times. You come before everything; his family, his job, his obligations.

You saw this relationship as nothing more than a flirtation; you're happy being married to your dependable husband, but this man is insistent that you make your life with him. He won't take no for an answer. You know if you leave, wherever you go, he will follow you. Your husband has had enough. He is tired of being the butt of society's jokes. Together, you both accept divorce is inevitable.

Once your other relationship becomes public, you start to receive threatening letters which terrify you. You move into your devotee's country home, where you feel safer.

Soon the public backlash is too large and you flee the country; begging your man to see sense and set his priorities correctly. But to him, you are his only priority.

You realize the situation is out of your control and that your name will become notorious.

Your name is Wallis Simpson.