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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Define Romance


"Why be a cynic when you can be a hopeless romantic?"
 
I'm not sure if this question was meant to be just a thought-provoker or if they really were wanting me to answer. It's not like I go around making a point to be one way or the other. Although, I suppose those who know me well, know I lean a bit more away from the rom-com happy endings. It's just not reality. Or at least not MY reality.
 
OK, so the more I write this stream of consciousness, I'm convincing myself that I am crazy, uber-cynical when it comes to love. I think all those years of being shot down in high school really did more harm than I realized. Is that why I'm an attention whore? Perhaps that's a good topic for my next visit with the shrink. I digress...
 
Is there a time in ones life when you should just wrap your arms around the mere thought of Prince Charming and accept that he may exist? Granted, he may not always look like Ryan Reynolds, but that's beside the point. Most women probably start out being a hopeless romantic. They delve into "When Harry Met Sally" and "The Notebook" and pine away for their soulmate. They only become cynics later in life, after they're divorced and have scorned all men.
 
I think I started in reverse. I started my adult life the biggest of cynics. I avoided romance like a curse. Wine and dine me? Screw that. Just screw me. Isn't that what all men want to do anyway? That train of thought probably tells you a lot about the type of guys I was dating early in my man-career. Even as I met the good ones, I have still been reluctant to give in to the idea of romance. Heck, even my wedding didn't feel romantic to me. Perhaps I've skewed my own vision of what romance really even means. Does it have to be hand-written love letters and flower-strewn beds?
 
I've been pondering this blog topic for days and was really keen on coming up with my own definition of "romance" to end on. However, I'm still drawing a blank. Maybe it's just a sweet, unexpected gesture, of no particular size, that makes you smile. Maybe it's the everyday love and affection that you seemingly take for granted. Or maybe it's the butterflies. Yeah, it's probably the butterflies.
 
*Stay tuned tomorrow for a guest post to get a guy's perspective on this whole subject!*
 

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