I am a writer. I actually love to write the romance view to extremes. I, in fact, am a romantic at heart. However this can be a huge roadblock in enjoying real life. I'm not talking about the Harlequin paperbacks that lead one to believe that all women are perfectly shaped and all men are rascals until their eyes fall on that perfect woman...and then they're reformed and wonderful, bla bla bla. No...surely we all know that's hooey.
I'm talking about how we word things, or more how we see things. I like to read about other people's experiences. Yay for modern technology...FaceBook, Blogspot, etc... I am able to see into others lives in ways that I never could before. Yes. I am nosy. Well, more to the point, I'm interested. And I get caught up in reading about how so-n-so went to the beach and laid on a soft towel, soaked up the sun, read three novels, and relaxed wonderfully.
I start thinking, I want to go to the beach!! But do I? I mean, yes it's fun. But I need to think about the reality of it...the sand that gets in those oh-so-uncomfortable places; the sunburns; the heat; did I mention the sand? Add that into the experience and it becomes reality. Still a great vacation...but not so "perfect" see?
The same can be said for camping. The fresh air, the scenery, nature...ah! AND, the bugs, the critters, the lack of plumbing.....
Taking this a bit deeper, I seem to "romance" other families. I see how "perfect" some families are. The children are well-behaved; the mom is smiling and trim and stylish; the dad is present and happy and ironed. How do they do it?!
In reality, they do it with a lot of hard work! The mom has to catch up on sleep every chance she gets and pray a lot to keep that smile on her face. The stylish clothes come from hard work and penny-pinching. The children are well-behaved because of many disciplinary moments...many crying and arguing moments...many fit-throwing moments. The dad is present because he has learned to sacrifice and re-prioritize. He had to get up and iron his own shirt this morning, but did it because he knows his wife needed those few extra minutes to sleep. That's the reality of it.
I don't really know what my point is....this is me just rambling and sharing thoughts I haven't organized yet. But, for those of us romantics out there, life can get depressing if we don't force ourselves to take off the rose-colored glasses and see things as they really are. We romantics are often afraid to do that because giving up the dream of wanting things to be perfect might mean finally realizing things are NOT.
What I've pleasantly found is that the not-perfect world is so much more likeable!!
