Romance Reality

I was sitting at work, in the staff lounge, reading a novel, when a co-worker of mine asked me what I was reading. I informed her that I was reading, Legal Attraction by Jacquelin Thomas.

The co-worker, a female, frowned at me, and I put my book down to focus on her since she had the audacity to interrupt my reading moment.

“What is the frown for?” I asked her.

She frowned again at me. “What frown?”

I knew she was hiding something. “Say what you have to say?”

”Okay,” she began. “I think you’re deluding yourself by wasting your time reading those romance novels. They are a waste of time and money, and the authors should focus on the real world. I read one of those black novels, and I was disgusted, angry, livid with rage, and discouraged, to say the least. No two people meet across the room and fall instantly in love with each other. Their eyes meet across the room, but lust is the key. Those romance novels are so unpredictable,” she laughed.

I was stunned because she had a lot to say. “I see.”

“I’m sorry, but you should be reading Danielle Steel, Jackie Collins, and James Patterson. Now these books are about the violence, and the adultery in the world. Stop wasting your time on romance. Do you have romance in your life? I haven’t seen you mention a man in a long time. Why do you waste your time?”

“I love romance, and I trust in it,” I declared.

She hysterically laughed again. “You’re stupid.”

“Excuse me?”

“Romance is full of bull,” she declared.

“Why are you so bitter about romance?”

“I just don’t have confidence in it,” she snapped. “I don’t think this world is built that way.”

“I trust in romance, and that will never change.”

She shook her head. “I feel sorry for you. If you think your black prince charming, or white knight is right around that corner on a horse and carriage, there’s a bridge in New York City I can sell you.”

“Romance is about believing and knowing that there is someone out there for everyone, and the faith is the key, of course.”

She laughed again. “Duh! Romance novels are fiction, pure and simple, so stop reading them and read something by James Patterson. His stories are about the criminal mind, and the abuse left and right of killing and violence. Look around Chicago, and any city, but mainly Chicago; people are dying every day, and most of them are being murdered.”

I knew there was no changing her mind, so I just shook my head. “I’m sorry you feel this way.”

“I do, and you’d be sane to listen to me, and get your mind out of the clouds. Romance is a fairy tale and we all know that fairy tales aren’t true. I’ll talk to you later.”

I stared at her leaving the lounge, still shaking my head. I had to admit that my co-worker had a right to feel this way. I’ve been waiting a long time to find my prince charming and mate, and I’m still waiting. But I still love the process of romance, and I’ll continue to love the mechanics of love. When my co-worker found the love of her life, then she’d be on the same page. I smiled.

Of course there are skeptics about romance, and its understandable the pros and cons, the negatives and positives, and the haves and haves not’s, of course. Romance and love is the most aspiring condition of the world, and I will always believe that romance is a reality, and it’s what we treasure and crave.

I want unconditional love, and even at 51, I’m still waiting on it. I might have missed it, which can happen when we’re not looking, or hearing, and waiting for someone. Our mate is right in our face, right around that corner, but we don’t see it, blinded by the light, of course.

I found romance when I was eighteen years old, but I was so young I couldn’t see it. He was my prince charming, and we rode into the sunset of marriage, but again, I was blinded by my age, and I couldn’t see what was right in front of me. Sometimes, we miss out on a good thing, and we may never get it back.

But my co-worker is very wrong, of course, but she’s entitled to her opinion. Romance is the evolution of love, and it’s mandatory in this world of terror and violence. We have to rely on something, and I am certain of romance, and it’s definitely a reality check for me.