It’s Valentine’s Day and all over the world I am seeing red.
Red is the colour of all things emotional and the gauge of romance.
We don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day, not because we don’t believe in romance but because Valentine’s was never really our thing. When I woke up this morning and talked about the significance of the day and the surprises that we didn’t have in store I started thinking about our love story.
Our love story wasn’t a traditional one; not in the chick flick, boy meets girl kind of way. Our love story crept up over time, little by little and took me by surprise when I least expected it. In my mind I was never going to end up with someone like mine, he was all wrong and not my type.
How wrong I was.
Some people feel love in an instant and for some it takes time and practice. I was a slow learner.
We met at an indecently young age: I was 20, he was 21. When we met I was reluctant, as I mentioned he wasn’t my type. Not that I had any idea who was my type; youth brings with it an assurance that defies years, a know-it-all attitude about most subjects, especially those of the heart. In hindsight an annoying trait, but not an uncommon one. If I had known then what I know now and all that… Fortunately one of us was wise beyond our years.
It was a set-up. My best friend insisted we meet, assured me that we were a perfect match. I wasn’t buying her matchmaker antics and resisted for some time. He won me over, as is his way, through subtlety, perseverence and full blown charm. He had my independent ways pegged from day one and he understood when to let me be and when not to. That’s him; he never gives up, nothing is too hard or too much trouble. He is exactly the same today.
Thirty plus years of marriage means there is a lot of I-told-you-so.
Our romance started slowly; we grew up together and created our own history. I believe that it is this shared history that binds us, the familiarity of the past that protects us through tough times and it is the long term camaraderie that provides the joy, the laughter and the drive to go forth and shape a successful life together.
Romance and enduring love are hard work. Happily ever after doesn’t always exist.
Timing must be the ying to the yang of romance.The chances of finding two people with a spark that ignites is not an everyday occurence. How often do you come across people that you feel a simpatico with, let alone a frisson?
I guess what I am saying is that a grand romance can take many paths. Passion may fire in a heartbeat Hollywood style, or it may also be a slow burn like ours. There is no handbook for falling in love, no wrongs and no rights and there are certainly no warnings for when it may happen. Every romance is unique, a one in a million.
Whether you celebrate on February 14th or not isn’t important. Valentine’s Day will come and go, the roses will fade and the corny sentiments written in every shop window will be replaced, but the gift of love, for it is a most precious gift, should be celebrated at any time and with any colour of the spectrum.
