Love and let love

Inspired by Valentine's Day I must write. I cannot tell you all about my Valentine's weekend because honestly you would all just be jealous. Let's just say Chad can make a mean chocolate souflee. You're jealous already aren't you...enough said.

Moving right along. You know what I love about love? I love that love is relative. Each of our encounters with love is solely dependant on our personal encounters and situation in life. Our loving is based on our connections with the people around us; it's unformulated, unscripted and unique. Our stories about love, who we love, falling in love, how we show our love, and all that love stuff are as different and special as we are.

Love, mush, blah, blah, blah--wow Mag, that's really beautiful, but what's your point?

My point is that the whole "The Greatest Love Story Ever Told" stuff is crap. Every time I hear that phrase as a prelude to a book or movie title I have to roll my eyes because I'm thinking, "have these people not heard about me and Chad and Jimmy Buffett night?" To me, my love story is the greatest, ever, hands down. You can tell me your personal love story, sell it any way you like, but it will never trump mine (to me).

I've even read "Love Story," twice, and aside from being a tear-jerker full of socio-economical class discrimination, twenty-something angst, hockey and a terminal illness it was more depressing to me than a trip to Abercrombie and Fitch. (Disclaimer: "Love Story" is a good read, just not "the greatest love story ever told," in this person's opinion. Sorry Eric Segal.)

Now, before you question my authority on love I will clearly state my credentials. First of all, I am in fact madly in love with my husband and have been for the whole four years we have been married. Before you scoff, that is like a golden anniversary in L.A., okay, I would get a kick-ass party and a super sparkly diamond band for that matrimonial achievement. Secondly, I have read dozens of books on love and romance, everything from Jane Austen and Shakespeare to Danielle Steele and Judy Blume. I can quote Petrarch, Robert Browning, and Pablo Neruda. And when Delilah sends a requested song out across the air-waves, I know all the words (although the tune is a little pitchy). Thirdly, I have watched many so-called "chic-flicks" and before you judge me, I don't just watch the feel-good romantic comedies, I watch the hard-core, not so happy ending, off with her head period love stories, too. So back off, I know love.

Now that we have established my incontestable expertise on love I need to offer my professional criticism on an article that I was reading in a local magazine publication yesterday. It was about local "Love Stories," and I found it to be full of lies and it flat out pissed me off! This supposed professional journalist, who is obviously not a love expert like myself, interviewed a few couples around town. She asked them questions about how they met, how they showed their love to each other, and how they celebrated the ultimate love day, Valentine's Day. It was complete with cute little pictures. She practically served them up on a silver platter etched with heart doodles as the ultimate symbols of love through the ages.

Well, I think these people and their love, and this hack who calls herself a newspaper woman are ridiculous. How could a journalist with any integrity write about love stories and not include the greatest love story ever that is about me and my beloved husband? Do they not know, have they not heard? I was reading the interview portion and thinking "who do these amateur lovers think they are?" They act like they've got the love market cornered; like their stories are so unique and special and...yep, then I realized, it's all relative.

Of course they think their love story is the greatest, it's theirs. The bond and history that these lovers share and live is what connects them to the universal idea and act of loving. So what if they believe that sending flowers the day before Valentine's Day is an original idea. Who am I, as a bonafide love expert, to try and contradict what they believe in their hearts to be absolute? Love and let love. As for the journalist, she needs to get her facts straight and when she wants to write an article on the "greatest love story ever," she can give me a call.