Smoking Out the Romance

Stuck in a traffic jam, having forgotten that weekend rush-hours are different, I think about romance. Well first of all, where I'm coming from. I tend to be romantic like this:

But I tend not to be romantic like this:

I think about this a lot these days - given the boredom of this phase of my current job, I've been most recently entertaining myself by discussing love, sex, and dating with various parties, from co-workers, to supper-clubbers, old friends, their Facebook friends, and other acquaintances.

It's now nearing thirty years of being reminded that many who aspire to the second variety of romance tend not to like me. I'm the sort of guy who's got a rather cavalier attitude towards rituals and ceremonies that many people endow with much sentiment. For example, the following would not be an unusual utterance, in complete seriousness:

"I like you. Will you marry me?"

For not much more than that, of course, I've been kicked out of residences and sent for walks in the snow. I kid you not. It's just not a big deal to me.

Don't get me wrong - I've nothing against the act of marriage. I come from a traditional Christian family, and growing up, romance, sex, and marriage, implied exactly the same basket of affairs - at least in practice. So for what it's worth, since the age of fourteen or so, I've been consciously on the look out for people I would fuck / date / marry (in whichever order). I've had the good fortune to encounter a few people who also have appreciated my company, but none have seemed to work out for the long run, as partners in either closed or open relationships.

Another lover once said something like this, to me,

"if you ever find someone who really likes you, never let them go."

But that's the sort of thing that just doesn't work for people like me*. It shouldn't matter whether one's lover comes or goes, so long as it's within whatever agreement a pair has. One should simply enjoy their company. (* Assuming of course, that there are people like me, and I'm almost sure that there are - call it an act of faith.)

Cavalier. That completely sums up my attitude towards romance. And anyone who doesn't find that romantic, well then maybe, fuck you.

Just maybe. :)