The Internal Romance

When I put on make up, fuss a bit with my hair and dress up a little, people wonder if I am trying to attract a man. When I don’t get all gussied up, people wonder if I’m letting myself go.

The point is, what I do, I do for me. I have a love affair with life, and in this life I am the leading lady. Do I cast myself as the cleaning drudge or the hard done by divorcé, or even the less favoured sibling?

Are these true? I get to decide! They are true if I say they are.

I get to decide what my story is all about; is it a tragedy, a comedy, an adventure story? Ahead of me, all blank pages. The pages to the left have been written in already, but I am also editor of my story. I can go back with my magic red pen and change the flavour, point or purpose of the story

It’s my story. It can even be a romantic comedy.

The manure for a good story is always just about the same. There are interesting characters that are facing times of testing, and rising to the challenges. As the story resolves we see our characters gaining wisdom, growing in perspective and maturing. They are sharing their story with others.

So what’s with the romance thing? In my world, a story about a dog or a horse is a romance story. A story about children, or estranged families reconciling, or even stories about finding our ancestors. These things are the very essence of romance; anything about relationships, interactions, impressions, perceptions. Romance is who we are, where we are and how we are and with who.

Film Shot: Put a man alone looking at a mountain sunset, and Yup! – We’ve got ourselves a romance story.

I remember a line in a Sarah McLaughlin song. “In a world created for romance”. Think Maui, The Grand Canyon, the Sahara or Niagara Falls! To me, this world that we live in, that is the backdrop to our lives is created for romance.

What perks me in the very core of my being connects me with the God who created me. I understand more of God’s nature by what my own heart responds to: Romance, adventure, excitement, mystery; a story with great characters. The stories that we love, and flock to the theatres to see, are romance stories through and through. The Titanic grossed millions. Think of some other timeless classics: Gone with the Wind, Gladiator, Old Yeller, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Lawrence of Arabia.

It is always marvellous to see ordinary people living extraordinary lives, or even people living ordinary lives in an extraordinary way. This world we are in is created for Romance.