Valentine's Day thoughts

We didn't do anything special together for Valentine's Day, this
year, except for eating some lovely M&S lemon sole, which I
cooked for the evening meal. I also bought some red tulips and
daffies for us, to mark the day, and fairly soon, we'll go and buy
ourselves a large glass vase to replace the one that broke (and
cut my fingers).

I am a romantic, though I don't believe love lasts forever (just
think of the thousands of people who get divorced every year).
As kids we were all told lots of fairy stories about true romance ...
Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, etc., where the couple "lives happily
ever after"... falsely raising our expectations of what coupledom
is like. And then as adults, we go out and buy loads of romantic
fiction or watch romantic movies (well, some people do). Are
some of us living in cloud cuckoo land?

I asked my dad once (well more than once actually) about what he
thought was the secret of a long marriage ... my parents struggled
through many years of unhappiness together, but their love for each
other blossomed again in later years ... he said, "It's tolerance of
each other." I think that's very true, as individuals change a lot over
the years, and if one of the couple can't accept that, then the
relationship will fail.

I have to say that I get tearful when I hear couples recite their
vows during a wedding ceremony, as I am very touched when I hear
them promise their endless love for each other, come what may.
And yet how daft is that whole concept, given the divorce statistics?
How could we expect a couple to endure years of misery together
if things turn sour, especially if one of them has had an affair?

And what are my tears of joy all about? Why do I feel "soppy" at
weddings? Perhaps I'm recalling my own wedding and how happy
I felt on that occasion. But tears? Crying seems very inappropriate,
don't you think?

Here endeth Thought for the Day.