forever changing expectations

"When I was young," she said, "it was all about the kiss. I could not wait to find out what it was about, and all starry-eyed, little girl fantasies went to that moment at the end of the movie when his lips leaned in and touched hers. Then I got a little older and the kiss was just a prelude, the start to the happy ending with the swelling music and the wedding and the kids and the love and the ever after."

"Then I was older still and the kiss became inconsequential. It paled in comparison to all that followed; a hurdle to jump over to get onto the next part. The grasping and holding and desperation. The parts with passion and angst and many broken things. Who cared about the kiss when you had the sweating and heartache?"

"And now," she said, "after all that, I've circled and rotated and gone past this, too. It's not about the kiss anymore, or the make believe it sets off, or the scenes that follow. All that's faded and done. Now it's about the point when that person reaches up and cradles your face in their hand, with their lips on yours, and envelops your cheeks with their palm, and pulls you in infinitesimally closer."

"Right there," she said, "is where I'll fall in love."

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit