Have you ever watched a chick flick and thought, there's no way that would ever happen to me? I hate to be a Debbie Downer, but it probably never will. Because chick flicks aren't real life. When I was in junior high health class the teacher used to talk about how chick flicks and chick lit were basically like a female version of porn--that these things were as unrealistic as the women and situations that were in adult movies and Playboy. I wouldn't go that far, but I'd definitely agree that they make us want things that are usually a long shot. We want the bad boy to love us enough to become "good". We want the guy who always, always knows the right thing to say. We want Prince Charming. We want the captain of the football team to fall for the girl with braces and acne. But how often do those things happen?
     I'm dating a guy who loves chick flicks. I could've guessed this before we ever started dating. At first this made me roll my eyes. He's not romantic. He's definitely a realist, but clearly, I'm so much more worldly and immune to the poor message chick flicks are sending to women like me. Right? Wrong. At then end of my eye roll, I realized I do the same thing with words. I love love songs. Love them. I went to see OneRepublic last week and, seriously, every song just made me weak in the knees. I've said so many times that my dream would be to have someone love me so much that they could put it into a song. Delusional. About as dumb as a 100 year old vampire falling in love with a 17 year old girl.
     Since the chances of Ryan Tedder falling in love with me are about as likely as me entering the magical world of Narnia, I've been trying to look more for the beautiful ways we show each other that we love one another in the real world this week. Love is moving across the country with your fiancee and jumping off into the unknown together. It's a big kiss after achieving something amazing. It's knowing what annoys the crap out of your partner and making them laugh before they freak out.
     In writing, stories have to be dramatic. They have to have huge stakes to keep you reading. It'd be cool to have someone be able to put their love into words for me. But it's way better having someone know I need lots of hugs and that I like to have every hour of the day planned out and not mind me being half of the time. That's real life. Don't waste your time dreaming of Prince Charming or the bad boy turned good. Dream of the one you aren't afraid to dance in front of or sing at the top of your lungs with. Dream of the one who will love you so much you start to love the braces and acne or love handles or weird bangs or whatever it is you have trouble loving about yourself.