I actually think it’s very sweet that friends and family would get together and give mostly token gifts (but lots of kind words) to the bride-to-be in the hope that the marriage was a good and long one. But it seems to also add a lot of pressure on a young couple, even in 1936 when divorce was not nearly as common as today.

I’m afraid I’m a cynic when it comes to love and romance, so I avoid these sorts of traditions like the plague. I run from the room when the bride throws her garter or the happy couple smears cake on each other.

I don’t know if Sophie and her husband had a long and happy marriage. But I do know they got a lot of wedding and shower gifts. Hopefully this string of bridal showers was just the beginning for Sophie, and the presents kept on coming along with the children. That her memories ended up at a Salvation Army store in San Jose is something I’m going to chalk up to error, not the depressing end to a sad and lonely life.