I have a serious problem. I am a romantic.
This is a problem because, as such, I am destined to never really be happy in life. You see, a true romantic is never happier than when they are falling in love. We are not particularly interested in being in love, and certainly not in staying in love. Oh sure, a romantic likes to think that those incredible feelings of closeness and desire will lead to a lifetime of happiness and that the feeling will last. It doesn't though, and then the romance is gone. No, it is not the relationship that a romantic needs. It is those intense feelings of attraction and the dreams and plans built around those. All the things that come with falling in love are like an addiction for the romantic. It is the fall that matters, not what follows.
There is nothing more romantic than those first exciting encounters with someone. I am not referring to the sexual encounters. I am talking about those first days or weeks that we spend with someone new. It is a time when all their jokes are funny, their stories are fascinating, and no one on earth could possibly be more interesting.
I have never been happy in relationship past the first year or two. I remember falling for Hub and thinking that it was the most exciting time in my life. It all seemed so romantic. I thought we would be together and happy forever. I did not really think about the forever though. If I had I would have realized things would never really work out. We were not really compatible. That did not matter then. It should have, but it didn't. I could not see past the fall. I just felt so much love and excitement and happiness that I assumed it would last. It is a romantic notion, but not a realistic one.
I can blame a great deal of our marital problems on Hub, and I would be right in doing so. But if I am being realistic, I know that even if he had not turned out to be a sex addict, things probably would not have worked out anyway. I would have gotten bored. His jokes are not funny anymore. He is no longer charming. His stories are not really that interesting at all. In fact I hate talking to him most of the time because I just do not give a shit about the things he is talking about. I have no interest in this relationship. It is boring.
I find myself fantasizing quite often about leaving Hub. It is not for the reasons it should be. It is not because I want to stand on my own and get away from the emotional torment he has put me through. I am numb to all that now. None of it really matters to me. I just do not care enough about him anymore to care what he does. I find myself fantasizing about leaving so that I can find someone new. Honestly, I fantasize more about finding someone new than I do about actually leaving. I want the thrill of a new relationship. I want the romance.
Lately I find myself watching romance movies. There is this longing in my when I watch them. I want that. I want that feeling. I want someone to be so enthralled with me that they would chase me to the ends of the earth. I want someone to love me so much that they would do anything, including laying down their life or spending a lifetime in prison (it was the theme of one of the movies i watched) in order to protect me. I want to fall in love.

I was thinking about this just the other night as I watched yet another Bollywood romance (these are my latest romance movie obsession as the stories are so much more involved and they have to fight so much harder to be together than people in our own society do). I was thinking about how desperately I want to fall in love like the people in the movie. Then I had this realization that I am getting too old for such things. Here are these young couples fighting against their parents and society in order to be together and it is so romantic and I would love to be in their place. I am not young though. People my age do not go into relationships looking for love and romance. They go into them looking for stability. I am at the age where it is more important to be sure you get a man who is going to treat you well and be able to help provide for the family than it is to have a big, romantic adventure.
I am too old for romance, and that depresses me. I have always been the girl that rebelled and went after the boy who was all wrong for me. I went after the excitement and the adventure. I went after the big, romantic adventure. Those days are behind me now. If I were to leave Hub I would need to be on my own for a while. It is the right thing to do for the sake of the kids. You cannot just run right into a relationship with someone else when you have kids. Well you can, but people think you belong on an afternoon sleazy talk show when you do that. (i know, i have been there. but that is a story for another time) Then when it was appropriate for me to move on to another relationship I would have to be practical. I would have to find a man who would treat me good, who would treat my kids well, who could provide for a family. I would have to be sensible. And really, if that is how you have to approach finding a relationship.... why even bother? What good is a relationship without romance? I have that now!
So I am feeling a bit old these days. Old, trapped, and alone. I still dream of romance, but I have come to the disheartening conclusion that it will forever be a just a dream.