A high school friend was driving me to the airport at the end of my recent visit with her. After having just seen one of THE all time movie tearjerkers ever made, The Fault in Our Stars, she said she was going to have to have a conversation with her daughter about the fact that there “are no Augustus Waters in this world.” For those of you who have missed this literary tome, Augustus Waters is the boy in the story who falls in love with the girl and is romantic beyond that of men of his age. Or any age for that matter. For me, it was Lloyd Dobbler holding a boom box in the rain. We all have that guy – that Prince Charming like character that we have looked for (and maybe found) our whole life. My friend thinks this is wrong and that this kind of expectation will set up her daughter to fail, or to be alone, or to be constantly disappointed. I understand her thought, but I couldn’t disagree more. Why can’t we aim for Augustus, Lloyd, Romeo… whomever?
Don’t we all deserve someone who will love us out loud and unabashedly? Whose “honor it would be to have their hearts broken by us?” (to paraphrase the author). Someone with whom we can have our “okay” thing? I say we do. Will we get it? Not sure. Will we be disappointed? Absolutely. Will we get more than one? God, I hope so. I face the future 43 and single. I have no problem waiting for my own Lloyd to come my way. It might take a long time, it might not come at all, but I’m not embarrassed to wait. I’ve kissed enough frogs. I can wait for my prince. We all can.
Looking forward to sharing my stories and getting your advice…