“No relationship is all sunshine, but two people can share one umbrella and survive the storm together.”
Does this saying hold true for couples today, who meet, date, hate and then finally break away? Relationships have become like two-minutes instant noodles; you make and break them in minutes. It needs immense patience for a relationship to grow. Relationships get stronger when both are willing to understand mistakes and forgive each other. Facing the storms in life changed my perspective towards love and relationships.
Books and movies were my first sources which gave me an insight about love, romance and relationships. The protagonists of all my novels, from the handsome Darcy (Pride & Prejudice), high spirited Theodore Laurence (Little Women), witty and charming Rhett Butler(Gone With The Wind), earnest and passionate Oliver Barrett IV (Love Story) to the passionate lover Michael Hillyard (Promise) gave me the idea of handsome lovers who shook heaven and earth to get married to the girl they loved. Writers like Victoria Holt, Georgette Heyer, Barbara Cartland conjured up images of sweet and subtle romance where the heroes courted their heroines with posies, candlelit dinners, beautiful gifts and long billets-doux. All these romantic gestures made the heroines swoon and accept the heroes ending with lived happily ever after.
Fed on these mushy romantic stories, I believed I too would be hitched to a handsome knight proposing to me with a ring by going down on his knees. But the reality is different from fiction. I was jolted from my reverie when my beau neither courted me with gifts, serenaded me with music nor went down on his knees to propose marriage. He didn’t match any of my novel heroes. He was a reticent and pragmatic guy who abhorred the concept of romance. All my hopes were dashed to the ground.
We were strangers, exchanging glances, wondering whether we would be able to live together till eternity. I felt marriage without romance was as insipid as lentils without any tempering. But over the years, my views have undergone a paradigm shift. My knight in shining armour has helped me weather all storms in life due to his thoughtful and caring nature. Our relationship has stood a test of two decades and we have come out in flying colours.
Quoting a few lines from Nicholas Spark’s ‘Notebook’, “We fell in love, despite our differences, and once we did, something rare and beautiful was created.” All the beautiful memories are sealed in my heart.
It is said, “Relationships gets stronger when both are willing to understand mistakes and forgive each other.” Instead of getting bored and breaking off from a relationship, one needs to work on it to make it stronger. Couples need to work as a team to strengthen their bond for a rock-solid relationship.
