It's a Long Walk 'til You're in Love

Altogether my parents have been married a total of five times. Dad three times and my mom twice. More or less 'cause the details are a bit shady on those stories. Not sure if Mom was actually married to that first guy. Dad is rumored to have been married to a woman he had no kids with and doesn't talk to anymore and only my brother has told me about it and for some reason never mentioned it 'til last year.

I hear the statistic is now that two out of three marriages fail now. That's quite a bit you know? "Divorced", "Divorced", "Yeah, we're doin' okay. It takes a lot of work but we're makin' it."

You know what makes love so special? It's a rare thing. Not just rare but if you don't know what it is you can go your whole life without ever recognizin' you ever had it. And if you don't know what love is, no one can tell you. "You just know.", They say.

And I suppose you do but I guess a lot of people think they know when they really ain't gotta clue. Met quite a few people in recent weeks, none of 'em old enough to drink but all of 'em certain they found that someone to spend their lives with. I can't help but think they made a big mistake. Maybe they haven't, I hope they haven't, but two nineteen-year-olds bein' married just doesn't seem like a good idea.

I know I've been through a thing or two in my day, and maybe those things have hardened this heart o' mine, but I think love, real can't live without it, standin' in the rain waitin' for it love is damn near impossible to find. I once met a couple that had known each other since the third grade. When I met them they were pushin' eighty. Assumin' they married at twenty, that's sixty years of marriage and all but seven of those years they've known each other.

You think that old man hasn't stood in the rain for his woman? You think if she got sick he'd wait to see her when she was better? You think if they were gettin' on each other's nerves they'd break up? You think if one of 'em died the other would do anything but follow?

That's real love. I'm sure they've had their problems and odds are they've broken up a few times. I'm sure there are things he's always done that get on her nerves. I'm sure if he died and didn't do those things anymore that she'd miss them anyway.

They knew each other a long time before they were able to get married. By that time they would've been the other's best friend. People get married after six months and wonder why it didn't work out. People convince themselves they've fallen in love because they wanna be in love. It sounds like a good place to be. To be that certain of the person next to you. To know that she's gonna take care of you as best she can no matter what. To know he's gonna love you when your looks start to fade. To know that if you left them for a long period of time the only thing that's gonna happen is that they're gonna miss you.

But that ain't always the case. Some people want to be there so much, they set up camp wherever they are and pretend to be in love. Love's a journey and it takes so many miles to get there. You can't take a few steps towards it and say you're there. You gotta endure the trials to get there. You earn bein' in love or you find out the person goin' with you ain't who you want to be in love with.

Love is precious. Love is rare. To find it at every turn cheapens the entire experience and sucks all the romance outta bein' romantic.