Why Do Fools Fall In Love?

When I was 20 years old I asked my Dad how he knew he was in love with Mom. My Dad, being the very matter of fact person that he is, said simply “Well we had very similar goals. We both wanted to get married, have a military life, have two kids, buy a house, and retire.” At that time I did not think that was very romantic. My mom always told me that I would know when a man really loved me because I would never be able to get rid of him. Mom worked for a factory at the time and by the time her shift was over she would be pretty dirty. But instead of going to her house to pick her up for their date Dad would show up at her job just wanting to get their dates started and not caring how she looked. At the time I thought that sounded annoying.

Years later when I met George I realized that they were right. George and I both wanted to get married, travel, kids were a maybe, buy a house, have two dogs, and someday retire to a house in the islands somewhere. It was amazing to have someone who loved me and who was totally on the same page as I was. It was awesome to know that George and I are going to share our lives, our hopes, and our goals together. And I could not get rid of George if I tried. I would run to the pharmacy drive through which was 2 minutes down the road and he wanted to come with me. I used to live all the way on the other end of town from work. However, when we hung out after work he would beg me to just hang out for just another ½ hour until it was 4 in the morning and I was driving desperately fighting to keep my eyes open.
To this day George will text me and call me throughout the day to tell me that he misses me. When he is playing video games he wants me to sit in his office with him and read just so that we are close. And even now that some of our dreams have come true like getting married in Jamaica, buying a house, and getting our dogs, our new goals that have come along have also grown together like knowing that we do want kids someday.

Quite a few of my friends are struggling right now with relationships ending. It has made me think about my romantic history and made me very happy that I found George. Today I was talking to one of those friends and she was thinking about what she wants and deserves from someone. And I passed along the words of my parents. “If a man loves you he will want the same things out of life you do. And you will never be able to get rid of him.”