Illiterations: Laughing At My Own Expense

There's this [boy]. ... It's as if I have taken love heroin, and I can't ever have it again. I've opened Pandora's box, And there's trouble inside.   -- William Thacker in "Notting Hill"  

I was just watching a sappy if still appealing TV series. The details aren't really important but the woman who is the main character is surprised by romantic gesture made by her boyfriend of 2 years and he suggests they get more serious. They're both surgeons and he is suggesting they move in together. I paused it at that point, but it looks like she's going to be evasive and avoid the suggestion. The reason I paused it is because at that moment I realized I am not her. I have always been somebody who would do almost anything for love. Real, trustworthy, solid, love. Which is ironic because I am also the person who has been single most of her life and who has been married and divorced twice and in between the marriages had one long-term significant relationship that also ended. But the pragmatic engineer in me says, "It's not that love and forever are not possible. It's that I just haven't chosen that right person yet." So, there you have it. One of m...

There's a peace that settles over the couple who has reached the "other side" of the initial growing and discovering phase of a relationship.  For most of us, this initial discovery part of the relationship seems to be a bit of each party contemplating the question of whether they want to keep going with this person; is this person the one they want to invest their time and their energy in; et cetera.  Some amazing (and rare) couples seem to simply meet and they are there, almost immediately. Yet, we, the rest of us, get there too.  We just do the "growing into him/her," "getting to know him/her," and the "let's see how this looks when the honeymoon phase wears off," thing.  And, personally speaking, I feel that we--my guy and I--have rounded all those corners.  And I love us!  I love how we look.  I love how we are just easy and understand each other's lives.  I love how we are pretty good at checking in with each other, and how we m...