18-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Monday, November 3, 1913: Have settled into my old unromantic ways again, so that is why I don’t have much to write.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Hmm. . . Was Grandma making a comparison between romantic ways and unromantic ways?
Grandma had so much fun at the Halloween party—is it just my imagination or does this entry suggest that something romantic happened at the party?
A Hundred Years Ago 
Interesting that ‘romantic’ was associated with diary writing.
A very interesting and cryptic entry. I wonder if perhaps a flame has dimmed that was burning bright 🙂
“Romantic” in that era often referred to the free expression of spirit and emotion; sometimes associated with art and music. So Grandma might have used it with that connotation, though I agree thinking that maybe she found herself a beau is a lot more fun. 🙂
Yes, I suspect a little flirtation or romantic fantasy too. How exciting!
I agree with “aunt fluffy”; I seem to recall that the word romantic may have meant something a bit different in those days.
But I can’t WAIT until Grandma does write about finding a beau….
maybe or it could be like a romantic life style, something out of the ordinary, uncommon?
Obviously at some point something romantic happened.She is your grandmother, after all. Sorry, I just couldn’t resist the observation. It does feel weird, though, doesn’t it, being with her before she became your grandmother. I have that weird feeling in working on my father’s fictionalized biography — being there with the young man who would some day be my father. It’s kind of an accordion effect.
During the era when your grandmother was a young woman, there weren’t many opportunities for women to meet ‘suitable’ men for them to strike up a romantic relationship with. Your grandmother is elusive in her writings. Do you think she was afraid of writing details for fear someone would read her diary and her inner secrets would be exposed.
Sounds like a good possibility there was a crush of sorts going on especially given that walk with a friend instead of church. Fun to speculate though.