A Fine Romance

Everyone has their favorites both in book and in movies.  From Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice and lets face it, the Colin Firth version is the best.  He is the one that comes to mind when I read the book.  To the hero in a book by your favorite author, to your own romance or that of someone you know, everyone has a favorite.

Growing up I watched a lot of shows and movies with cops and soldiers. Mainly because I was one against five and usually lost out when it came to TV or movies. However I got different things out of it than they did. I looked at the men and saw brave, hard working, loyal men true to their values and their country. Yes, it sounds like a boy scout, but it also sounds like a romance hero to me. I love Pride and Prejudice, Colin Firth and Hugh Jackman both make me drool. I've watched Casablanca so many times I can quote lines from it. However, one of my favorite romances is my own marriage of almost 30 years.

One of the things that attracted me to my husband was the fact that he was different from the other guys I knew. He was an old fashioned gentleman, still is.  We met on a blind date. We went for Chinese food and then drinks.

He was genuinely interested in what I had to say. He lived on one side of Boston and I lived on the other. Neither of us had a car. He took the subway with me to my apartment insisted on opening the door and making sure everything was ok and I think I started to fall in love when he got down on the floor and played with my cat. A cat that was afraid of most men.

Here was a man who understood my book store addiction, loved Chinese food and baseball as much as I did. He also was as fascinated by history as I was; we spend many a weekend walking around Boston. If we weren't in book stores we were walking the streets taking in the history.   And he is not afraid to do dishes or clean house, or do laundry. All of which I found to be extremely sexy.  When he asked me to marry him seven weeks later I said yes.

 My grandparents were married for 54 years and one day I teased my grandmother and asked her if she would ever get married again. She then told me what I have come to believe is the definition of a good marriage. "There were days he was wishing I was in hell and there was days I was wishing he was in hell. They were still the fifty four best years of my life. Definitely a definition of a fine romance.