Getting There

"Searchin for that feeling, tell me where is the magic?
Let's stay together 'til we're ghosts
I want to witness love, I never seen it close."  - Drake, "Fireworks"

Tonight I had to attend an event for work, honoring the "Top Doctors" of New Jersey. In comes this Black couple. They were smiling as they entered. They went to hang their coats and were smiling and holding hands when they returned. They were doing the same when they left. Black love - quiet, intimate and amazing to watch. And did I mention that SHE was the Top Doctor, that they were there for her? Hubby wasn't busy whispering hurtful words in her ear, snapping at her everytime she said something or looking irritated by having to be where he was. There was no resentment, or any that I could see, over her success. He just looked proud, and very into his woman.

Right now my life is full of divorced parents who spent the majority of their time together in utterly miserable states, females who have the sense, but not the strength, to not sleep with guys with girlfriends, clueless women in "relationships" with guys who just aren't that into them, men who want your friend and then you when your friend's not looking, girls driven to obsession and borderline swimfan status over guys who use their desperation as a source of entertainment - the list could go on. And maybe it's just the age we're at or the company I keep, but these are the things I hear of and see on the regular. There is no romanticism, no grand gestures or overwhelmingly chivalrous moments, nothing said that makes someone blush through their melanin, and certainly no love. And it's usually not even something I think about. It just...is.

But that couple seems to have removed me, temporarily at least, from my world of the romantically jaded. They were refreshing; watching them be in love with each other was beautiful. It made me wish I could swap out some of the poor choices and hurt feelings for minor PDA and loving someone so much it radiates through your pores. Hmm...maybe that last one is asking for too much too soon. How about just a really nice date with a really nice guy that makes you smile when you think about him, to start?

I know that I'll get there. I also know, or at least pray, that all the people I just put on secret blast (I realize this is an oxymoron, but this is my space, so deal) will too. I refuse to believe that we'll exist like this forever. But in the meantime, shout out to that happy, smiling couple fom earlier. I need them to hold me down until I can catch up.