guthmund

I'm not picking on you Plan9, your reply just seems to sum up what everybody else said.

I understand the "real world." Believe you me I understand. But I've come to the realization that the time and effort I put into failed relationships could have been spent other ways. The weeks, the months that I desperately spent clinging onto folks, who I knew weren't any good for me, could have been spent on other projects. I know this isn't going to be explained very well, but I'll try anyway. Say you see me sitting on the side of the road squeezing a rock to get a drink of water. I've been sitting there all day squeezing the damn thing and haven't got a drop. You'd call me a fool. But if I keep squeezing a relationship, looking for something that isn't there, you'd call me persistent. You'd applaud my effort at making my relationship "work."

Why did I hang onto these "others" when I knew that it would amount to nothing? I rationalized it. Now, I've met women that have excited my mind and body and left me wanting more, but they come few and far between. I told myself that I'm an semi-attractive fellow, but I'm getting older and flabier so statistically there are only so many "others" left. I can hang on to this gal, who kind of likes me, and we can cling to each other in desperation, or I can go my own way and stumble across real love, instead of "settled" love. I can't step forward with one foot in the door.

Are we so desperately afraid of ending up alone, that we settle for anything that resembles what we were looking for in the first place? There is an old joke that's a list of all the attributes women look for in men and it's organized by the woman's age. So, women in their 20's are looking for "tall, dark, handsome, rich, nice smile, good with kids"...etc.... The woman in her 40's is just looking for "breathing." It's kind of funny, but it's also true (and not just for women. Let's curb that before it starts, eh?). I guess my question is why?

I just have to question why we take the mysticism out of everything. Do we settle for shoes that don't fit? Even if your standards are ridiculously high, if you can't find one person out of 6+ billion to make your toes curl then you aren't trying hard enough and maybe you should settle for the next thing that's mildly appeasing that walks around the corner.

So, I ask again, Where has the romance gone? I see stories, poems, sonnets, songs, and art dedicated to it. So, it must be hanging round. I just don't see too many people practicing it. It seems we've become disillusioned with it and that's what I was trying to convey.

So, in conclusion, ladies and jellyspoons...(insert Eddie Izzard joke here) we need to seek out love, not settle on mediocrity. I'm better than that, you're better than that, we're better than that.

I know this is rambling. I know it probably doesn't make much sense and I would do better to try and howl over the storm, but I had to try. Maybe I'm wrong.....but, then again

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