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Love is never easy, like in the movies

By Staff | Jan 25, 2012

When February approaches, the time is short before the inevitable arrival of Cupid for Valentine’s Day. Although ‘single’ may be viewed as ‘confident’ and ‘not waiting,’ on Feb. 14 the peer pressure hits like an arrow to the heart. Either you find some friends to hang out with, a date or stay home on that day.

However, friendships and relationships are not always mutually happily ever after like in the movies. Serendipity does not spring into place as in “Valentine’s Day” or “Sleepless in Seattle.” It gets complicated along the lines of the classic play/film “Parfumerie,” “She Loves Me” (a.k.a. “Shop Around the Corner,” “You’ve Got Mail”). The premise has a senior retail store worker exchanging virtually anonymous letters with a potential soulmate. Fate has a sense of humor – she’s the new hire and neither knows that they are in the presence of their snail mail heart throb.

Actually, online chatting and texting have made it easier for two strangers to find each other. Large cities boast of services that can program relationship expectations into a phone app, then, assuming your match has the same app, well, if you pass in a crowd, you’ll hear a ding. At least, you can specify where to wait, since determining who’s ‘beeping’ can be embarrassing.

During simpler times, a blind date likely would be made over a landline phone. Once there’s an agreement to meet at, say, a shopping mall, it’s a matter of finding the brown-haired twentysomething woman wearing jeans by the fountain on Saturday afternoon.

Serious relationships once you arrive there become more complex, especially when the same people that said, “don’t let anyone tear you apart,” reverse themselves and counsel, “you really didn’t need her in your life.” See, the blissful endings of romantic comedy more often than not end unhappily and with tons of ambiguity.

And being single has its advantages: The new theater has one seat waiting just for me – beside the wheelchair accessible section. It’s normally available, sell out or not. But, I will NOT attend on V-Day. Period.