Modern Day Fairytales

EG's friend met her husband while in college. They dated briefly. Hooked up here and there for years afterwards. He lived on the other side of the country. She said to him that she wanted more. He said to her that he wasn't ready. She ended all contact with him and married the first man that came her way. She worked on the marriage, because she wanted to stay married. But the marriage dissolved. She sent a letter to her current husband saying that she didn't know if it mattered. She wasn't sure if he felt the same way. But she loved him still. She had always loved him. She shouldn't have gotten married, she said. She should have waited for him. And he felt the same way. And they are now married.

I hear stories, and I search inside myself to see if there's someone for whom I still carry love. But my life is too much about chapters. I resolve to easily. I seek closure to often. Yet I still adore this sort of story. In fact, a friend recently e-mailed me that she got a message from her college ex as she was about to move in with her boyfriend of 3 years. While I liked her new boyfriend, I felt the need to mention in my reply that I'd always seen her with her college ex. Because that's just the way I think. The best make-up kisses take place in the rain. The best ice cream sundaes are shared with someone else. And soulmates do in fact exist.

Someone meets a foreign man while on a trip to a wine festival. They spot each other over the crowd. The can't keep from talking once they start. They share wine, and they venture off to dinner. They snap photos and exchange business cards and phone numbers. They don't even kiss. But they can't stop from talking even as they stand in different parts of the world. They can't help but glow everytime they e-mail each other. And they make plans to meet somewhere tropical to see if this could really be love.

I did fall in love at first site once. He was a painter. At the time, I wore a beaded necklace, a gift for my 18th birthday from my mother, every day. And it was so cliche. He painted my necklace into every one of his pictures for years afterwards. He's married and happy now in his hometown in Texas. Yet every couple of months, I still get a text message saying "Love U". Because even though we've tried again without being able to capture what was first there(before he was married, of course), we both have a basis of measure to compare every other romantic moment to for the rest of our lives.

Its all about the story. No matter how it will end. MG says I could never meet someone at a bar with no story. It's true. I do need something to make me believe kismet exists.

My story as of now.

I was fighting horribly with BG. We do this more often than I'd like. And I was feeling a bit sad and questioning my move to DC for the first time. He suggested that I join a cluster. A Shabbat Cluster. To meet people. I was crying that day about not knowing enough people in DC. He said we'd do it together. But he's always so busy. So I decided to go alone. The dinner was on a Friday evening. I was going on my second date the next afternoon with a boy I was somewhat interested in pursuing. I wasn't crazy about him, but I was entertained enough to try for another shot at chemistry.

I wasn't sure if Woody was dating the girl with whom he came. I wasn't sure if he was dating the other girl who was supposed to meet up with him, but didn't beforehand, but kept checking her cell phone until he got there. I wasn't sure, and honestly, it wasn't what I was looking for that night, so I didn't care. My cousin was supposed to come to the dinner. He ended up needing to meet up with a prospective new roommate. We were made plans to meet up for drinks afterwards. Dinner was great. Everyone was interesting. I could see myself becoming friends with a girl there, IH, and I was right. Then something changed. Woody and I realized that he went to high school with my cousin. And then I was interested in talking to Woody. Then he ended up walking with me to meet my cousin at the Brickskeller for drinks. He asked me a million questions, bordering on being an asshole, but still intrigued, I complied and answered with great energy. I felt like Annie Hall. So I was interested, intrigued, but he ended the night with "I'll see you in a month at the next cluster dinner."

I called my cousin the second I got home. He said he felt like the third wheel. I said I didn't think Woody was interested in me. My cousin disagreed.

I couldn't bring myself to enjoy my date the next day. The boy came back to my apartment, and I was awkward as only a girl can be. I told my roommate the story. She thought I was making a wrong move. But all the same, I didn't allow myself to enjoy my date. I had someone else on my mind.

Behold Friendster. I Friendstered Woody. My cousin was new to Friendster and really into it, like everyone else, for about a week. So he Friendstered Woody from my Friendster friends list.

I got an e-mail the next day titled "Coincidence". Read something like... "Coincidence or conspiracy that your cousin and you both Friendstered me on the same day." And thus the story began. It's still nowhere to report yet. But it makes for a blog entry, so perhaps it has the ability to develop into a greater story.

Today's fairytale is really just a happy romance story. Who even knows if Snow White and the Prince worked out after all was said and done? Who cares if Ariel and Eric lived happily ever after? Did Cher and Josh get married? She was only 16 when they got together in Clueless. The conclusion is that a modern fairytale is just a really good story that gets you from point A to point B with emotion and romance and perhaps even a text message here and there forever afterwards. Because if you live your life as if it's a fairytale, the good guy always wins, and you may even get to kiss someone in the pouring rain.