what are your favorite little anecdotes about mary ?

theetonatheist:

Sorry I took so long! 

• She literally did not have to woo Shelley at all. She was just that great of a person that he was swept off his feet just by her being her.
• She surprised Godwin’s friends who tried to patronize her at 14 by being like “anyways here’s a highly complex political essay I wrote.” 
• Shelley’s parents Did Not Approve, so when he went to sit on the front porch steps to harass them (since he wasn’t allowed inside his own home for a long list of reasons) she sent him with a book that had her name inscribed on it. In very large letters. (:
• One time after they’d eloped Shelley told her she could bathe in a creek and dry off with leaves and her response was essentially “have you lost every ounce of your mind?” & I find it so funny because me too, Mary.
• She slept in a bed with Shelley that rats and bugs were prone to crawling all over at some cheap motel and didn’t even complain. What an icon.
• She would always add on to Shelley’s letters where he was being super dramatic, like saying he was dying or something and be like, “He’s fine he’s a baby when he’s sick.” 
• Running up a hill in the rain to get to Byron in an age where getting slightly chilled could kill you exemplifies how Little of a Shit my girl gave. 
• She once got so agitated waiting on Shelley to return that she went out in the middle of the night and in the rain looking for him herself.
• She sent all these specifications to Shelley about a hat for their son but then was like “ACTUALLY I probably won’t even like it so just never mind.” Which is the constant mood.
• Her always telling him to cut his hair. 
• Her putting up with Shelley just like, in general.
• She slept with Shelley’s friends a lot (which was totally cool and encouraged by him, since they were in an open relationship) and her letters to them are so flirtatious that I love it. 
• Speaking of which, she was a GIANT flirt. Which I love, love, love. She was so confident. 
• She would help Shelley a lot with his translations. He would read to her in the desired language and she wrote it down, which speaks about both her intelligence and her dedication to being a scholar alongside him.
• Funny things aside, she was able to handle multiple deaths with her sanity intact. She had just miscarried when Shelley died, but she managed to get out of the bed to go to Byron in efforts to find out what had happened. She was SUCH a strong woman.

She didn’t do any wild stuff like Shelley, but she was sassy, confident, and funny and that’s enough for me.