The Hopeful Romantic

Uncle Bubba sits quietly in the back seat of his cab; the cabbie was 20 minutes late and Uncle Bubba let him have it with both barrels when he finally arrived at the hotel. He called the day before to make the arrangements and now he wonders if he'll make it to O'Hare airport on time to catch his flight home. (I can tell you that he won't, but that's another story...) For now he thinks of his Sweet Pea and anxiously awaits grabbing her in his arms at the gate when he arrives at his home airport. He imagines her sweet smile and adoring eyes. He laments that he has to stay away from home for such long stretches of time and knows that it would probably be easier on him if he wasn't such a hopeless romantic. He knows he lives too much in his head and carries his heart on his sleeve, but that's just Bubbie. He knows it's to his detriment. It's a hard life but could he be any other way? To deny one's self is death; fated to be a zombie, a shell of a person walking the days away to the end of the earth.

In Bubbie's view, the term hopeless romantic is a misnomer. The term "hopeful romantic" would be much more accurate to describe a person who daydreams about romantic occasions and dreams of chances where he/she will be able to perform a romantic act to their love. The sadness that this chance never comes is the hopelessness and who wants to think about that?! All hopeless romantics are idealists, sentimental dreamers, imaginative, and fanciful when you get to know them. They often live seeing life through rose colored glasses and as a result they prefer not to be steeped in reality. The hopeful romantic knows the reality of love is that reality has no business being in love. This is why they will often perform grandiose gestures that may be seen as unsettling or borderline crazy to non-romantics. But to the fellow few romantics these same gestures will be adored as beautifully and obscenely quixotic. And such is the "hope" of the hopeless romantic--to not only find the one who loves receiving such love, but loves giving such love. The true hopeless romantic would always rather give than receive because they know then and only then, will there be true love.